Calypso ride criticized over "racist images"

An Ottawa man is calling for change to an attraction at a popular Eastern Ontario waterpark.

The attraction at Calypso Waterpark is called the “Kongo Expedition.” The water ride is a Kongo-themed lazy river.

Robin Brown first became aware of the ride at the end of last summer when his son went to the park with a group of friends.  He says the imagery on the ride is racist. He says, “Why have I not heard of this before? Calypso has been around for a while and these are not subtle racism, these are blatant, blatant racism.”

Brown describes part of the ride including, “Racist images like people in the U.S. South have on their lawn, like black face, but really big ones looking like Africans with wild bulging eyes,”

His biggest concern is the giant cauldron users go under as part of the lazy river.

Brown says, “This is totally a reference to the 1950’s movies where they show Africans as cannibals. And I couldn’t believe my eyes.”

He wrote a letter to Calypso Park on July 2^nd but has not been contacted.

Brown says until something is done he is calling for a boycott of the park.

CTV News reached out multiple times to Calypso Wednesday, they acknowledge the requests but are not commenting.

Calypso is located east of Ottawa, off highway 417 in Limoges.