Martha Stewart apologizes for Halloween costume after backlash

Martha Stewart has issued an explicit apology for a Halloween costume portraying a person experiencing homelessness, changing her response after initially saying the outfit was intended to raise awareness. In a new Instagram statement on Sunday, November 1, the lifestyle personality acknowledged that her earlier explanation had not gone far enough and described the costume as “insensitive and not funny.”

The new message followed criticism of a photograph that Stewart posted and then removed. The image showed her in distressed clothing and makeup resembling dirt, carrying a sign asking for food and help. It appeared in an Instagram carousel promoting her QVC candles, according to reporting by Page Six, Fox News and NBC News, published in Spanish by Noticias Telemundo.

The change in her response is the central development. Earlier Sunday, Stewart emphasized her intention and her concern about homelessness. By the evening, a second statement acknowledged that the costume itself was inappropriate and included an apology. Page Six and Us Weekly separately reported that new message.

The photograph that prompted the criticism

The controversy centered on a specific portrayal, rather than Halloween costumes generally. Stewart appeared in worn and torn clothing, with makeup simulating a dirty face and a handheld sign appealing for something to eat. Critics described the presentation as making light of people facing hunger and homelessness. Her initial statement and subsequent apology both addressed that costume.

Its commercial setting was also part of the published account. NBC News described the photograph as the third image in a carousel advertising Stewart's QVC candle collection. The accompanying caption promoted the candles for Halloween. Page Six likewise reported the connection between the costume image and the product promotion.

The photograph was removed, but the response continued through the statements that followed. Deleting the original picture and apologizing were separate steps: removing it ended its availability in that Instagram post, while the new message addressed why people objected. The apology did not announce a different costume or explain the production decisions behind the photograph.

Her first response focused on intention

In the earlier statement provided to Page Six on Sunday, Stewart said she was distressed that the costume had offended people. She explained that she had wanted to draw attention to homelessness, characterized the issue as a serious ongoing challenge, and said she cared deeply about it. She also described supporting charities that work on the issue.

That account presented the meaning Stewart said she intended. It was a statement about her own purpose and charitable involvement, rather than a response accepting the description of the outfit as insensitive. Fox News carried that explanation, and Noticias Telemundo's NBC News report also included a statement from Stewart stressing awareness and a commitment to making a difference.

The two messages should be read in sequence. An account saying that Stewart defended the costume captures the first stage of her response. It no longer captures the whole development once the later apology is included. The Sunday evening message did not merely restate that she had meant well; it said the earlier response was inadequate.

What changed in the new statement

Stewart's new message was presented as text in an image of a phone note on her Instagram account. In the wording reported by Page Six and Us Weekly, she acknowledged how difficult it can be to admit a mistake, recognized that many people were struggling financially, and accepted that wearing the costume had been insensitive. She closed by saying she was very sorry.

That moves the emphasis from intention to the choice of costume. The initial explanation asked readers to understand what she said she had hoped to communicate. The subsequent statement instead acknowledged that the depiction was not funny and that the first explanation had fallen short. Those are different responses to the same criticism.

The second statement does not erase the first one. Together, they establish the public sequence: the image appeared, it was removed, Stewart explained her intention, and she then apologized. The record supports reporting that shift without speculating about who advised her, how the note was drafted or what prompted its timing.

A separate Halloween appearance on TODAY

The disputed photograph was not Stewart's only Halloween appearance that weekend. On October 30, she joined TODAY's holiday broadcast, where Craig Melvin dressed as her friend Snoop Dogg. Stewart appeared in an Olympics-inspired look. Us Weekly's coverage of the program places that appearance within the show's celebration of NBC's history.

Stewart subsequently shared images of that television appearance on her own account, according to Us Weekly. It was a separate outfit and occasion from the costume that led to the apology. Keeping those appearances distinct is essential: a photograph from the TODAY broadcast does not show the removed costume, and the new apology concerns the portrayal of a person seeking food and help.

Halloween also provided a different kind of celebrity-fashion story in Lily Allen's Ticketmaster-inspired costume. The common setting is the holiday; the subject of Stewart's new statement is her own image and the criticism directed at it.

Why the holiday is part of her public identity

Stewart's public association with Halloween predates this weekend. Her earlier statement described years of sharing seasonal recipes, craft ideas and advice for entertaining. Page Six's account also noted earlier costumes she revisited in holiday posts, including a haunted horsewoman and a comic-book-inspired look.

Her broader work places those appearances within a recognizable lifestyle career. PBS describes Stewart as a television host, author and entrepreneur whose subjects include cooking, entertaining, gardening, crafts and holidays. Her catering work helped form the basis of *Entertaining*, published in 1982. These are the activities through which audiences have encountered her advice about celebrations.

The holiday is also a recurring entertainment format beyond her own brand, from celebrity outfits to television specials. NewsCubby's coverage of the DWTS Halloween episode follows another part of that seasonal television landscape. Stewart's apology, however, is a response to one particular costume, rather than a statement about the holiday as a whole.

Reactions remained divided

Page Six and Us Weekly both described differing responses beneath the apology. Some commenters continued to criticize the judgment behind the original outfit. Others defended Stewart or treated the new message as an adequate response. Those reported examples show disagreement; they do not provide a representative measure of what all viewers or followers thought.

The disagreement also involved different questions. Criticism addressed the decision to portray someone in need as a costume. Supportive responses focused on Halloween's tradition of dressing up or on accepting an apology after a mistake. Stewart's own second statement addressed the choice directly by acknowledging its insensitivity, rather than asking readers to consider only her original intention.

Neither the number of visible comments nor a selection of responses settles whether an apology has been accepted. For readers following the story, the concrete development is the statement itself. Broader celebrity and pop-culture coverage can follow any further attributable response without turning individual comments into a verdict from an entire audience.

What to watch next

The next meaningful development would be a further statement from Stewart, a specific initiative connected to the concern she raised, or another clearly attributable response to the apology. Her initial explanation referred to charitable support, but the new note reported Sunday did not set out a named fundraising campaign, a donation amount or a new program.

For now, the most useful distinction is between an explanation and an apology. Stewart first said her goal had been awareness. She later acknowledged that the costume and her first response were insufficient, and apologized. That is the latest confirmed change in a controversy that began with a removed Halloween photograph and continued with two different public messages.

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*ARCHIVE PHOTO: Martha Stewart speaking at an event in Scottsdale, Arizona, in October 2019. The photo does not show the 2026 costume. Photo: Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0.*

*NewsCubby articles are produced with AI assistance and reviewed by humans.*