The Michigan-based World Clown Association says that all of those creepy clowns that have been wreaking havoc around the country are not true clowns.

“Whoever is doing this is not a clown,” WCA President Randy Christensen told Hometown Life/WZZM-13's Jay Grossman. “A person wearing a mask and jeans — that’s not a clown."

The WCA, who has their headquarters in Berrien Springs, Mich. represents more than 2,000 clowns from around the world. And while they realize that there are people who were afraid of clowns before this hysteria started, they don't want to see legitimate clowns get a bad reputation.

There have been incidents around the country involving creepy clowns, including ones in which schools have closed, and people have been arrested for chasing others down while wearing clown masks.

On their website, the World Clown Association states that they, "love to bring happiness, joy and fun to children of all ages. We have members who visit hospitals, nursing homes and hospice residences. We have other clowns to bring fun to birthday parties for kids and even senior citizens. Many of our clowns do educational programs in schools on topics like safety, promotion of reading, science, and even "No Bullying" and character development. We love to hear laughs and we hope you have a happy day."

The WCA put things into perspective in a comment on their Facebook page, saying, "Just remember - someone wearing a rubber halloween clown mask is no more a clown than someone wearing a 'Barney the Singing Dinosaur' mask is actually a dinosaur."

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