A CIRCUS performer has urged people to keep on enjoying clowns in the wake of fears generated by the 'killer clowns' craze.

Steve White aka Steve Kaos sometimes dresses as a clown as part of his job showing off his circus skills at festivals and events across the world.

However he said he had been disappointed to see the furore over people carrying out pranks by dressing up as clowns and frightening passersby as the killer clown craze is sweeping the nation.

Mr White said: "Anything that is negative towards clowns is not good for anyone that works in the entertainment business.

"People dressing up wearing masks trying to mess people up, it's not what a clown is.

"I suppose it's based around the clown face, just turned into horror."

Mr White, from Alfrick Pound, said he believed people were afraid because the killer clown craze was based on masks which concealed people's faces.

He said: "I think it's just horrible. If you put that in the dark with a wig or incredibly realistic fake weapons. I'd be petrified by these masks. Anybody in a mask is scary."

But he believes the fear of clowns has been around for a long time and hasn't been helped by characters like Pennywise, the clown from Stephen King's book IT, or Heath Ledger's portrayal of a sinister Joker, wearing clown make-up, in the popular Batman film.

Mr White said when working as a clown he wore a subtle version of the traditional make-up, and sometimes came across people who told him they were afraid of him.

He said: "If somebody says I'm scared, I'll take my hat off or my nose and say look, I'm just a person.

"Sometimes you can end up having a long conversation with someone who said they were scared."

He said he received support recently after posting a picture online of himself in clown make-up during a job at MTV's VMA awards.

He said: "I wrote I'm a clown, I'm proud and happy and I'm not out to frighten anybody.

"I got to play on stage, at the MTV awards with Taylor Swift, Heidi Klum and The Hoff. It's been good for me.

"So many people were saying like this, love this.

"But I do feel for people that are doing work as clowns.

"I want to support anyone in the industry of trying to make people happy."