What may have been meant as an innocent joke, has led to the ban of a rodeo clown from working at Missouri’s State Fair by State Fair Director, Mark Wolfe.

Apparently, the rodeo clown was wearing a mask depicting the President Barrack Obama, and then proceeded to ask the crowd if they wanted to see the “bull run over him”. The name of the man who pulled the stunt has not yet been released. The announcer could be heard making comments including, “As soon as this bull comes out, Obama, don’t you move,” and “He’s gonna get ya, Obama; he’s going to get ya.”

The Missouri State Fair Commission issued an apology saying that the rodeo clown was “inappropriate and disrespectful.” The statement went on to say, “We strive to be a family friendly event and regret that Saturday’s rodeo badly missed that mark.”

The Rodeo Cowboy Association released a statement saying: “The sport of rodeo is not meant to be a political platform. We are taking measures by training and educating our contract acts to prevent anything like this from ever happening again.”

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said that the rodeo clown’s action was “shameless”. “The young Missourians who witnessed this stunt learned exactly the wrong lesson about political discourse – that somehow it’s ever acceptable to, in a public event, disrespect, taunt, and joke about harming the President of our great nation,” said Senator McCaskill in response to the incident.

The video and pictures of the rodeo has gone viral, with people making postings on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media websites.

Rodeo Clown Who Wore Obama Mask Banned For Life By Missouri State Fair…I think it's time for a national conversation on racist rodeo clowns.

— Jeffrey D. Dickson (@jddickson) August 12, 2013

Rodeo clown who mocked Obama banned from Missouri State Fair. Sad clown. 🙁

— Hayden Black (@haydenblack) August 12, 2013