It's normally hard to get a serious word out of a clown like Randy Christensen.

Real clowns pride themselves on putting forth a character that is based totally on having fun and entertaining people.But clowns aren't laughing about the recent trend of "creepy clown" sightings across the country, including here in Carbon County.First it was Greenville, South Carolina, where in late August, children told a local sheriff that a clown had asked them to come to its home in the woods. Then sightings started to get more local.On Sept. 24, Summit Hill Police found two youths dressed as clowns trying to scare people in Ludlow Park.The next night, three people were arrested after they tried to scare an off-duty police officer in Lehighton Borough.Real clowns pride themselves on staying in character. But many have broken the facade to stand up for their craft.Christensen, who is president of the World Clown Association, posted a video message on social media in response to the sightings."Whoever is doing this crazy stuff is not a clown. This is somebody that is trying to use a good, clean, wholesome art form and then distorting it trying to gain access to a child - this is not clowning, this person is not a clown," Christensen said.Local clowns say that they try to focus on making kids happy, and not worry about the wannabes."It is kind of annoying, but no one has said anything derogatory, so we're feeling thankful," said John Sullivan, aka Splash the Clown.Barton Fritzinger Jr. has been performing as "Buster the Clown" for 25 years.He said there's nothing scary about his routine. And thanks to his established reputation, 2016 was his busiest year yet.It takes a lot more to be a clown than just putting on the face paint. In response to the bad publicity, one clown organization has been publicizing its eight "clown commandments."Clowns of America, International's pledge revolves around preserving the "good name of clowning," and entertaining people, primarily children.Clowns accepting the pledge agree to perform in good taste. They stay anonymous while in character. They do not drink or smoke while in costume. They change into street clothes as soon as possible after the appearance."We live by a code of ethics," Sullivan said. "We promote love, fun and joy."When someone dresses as a clown for nefarious means, they are manipulating the trust that people have in the image of a clown. And he says that's not much unlike dressing up as a police officer."If somebody dressed up as a police officer to try and gain somebody's trust, but they weren't a police officer, and they tried to kidnap a child, they wouldn't say, 'oh a police officer kidnapped a child' - they'd say 'somebody impersonating a police officer,'" he said.Of course, negative perceptions of clowns have been around for a long time, thanks to movies like Stephen King's "It."Christensen said for many years, he's found the best way to deal with those stereotypes is to ignore them and focus on a good show."We try not to focus on the negative, but just provide a positive image of clowning," Christensen said.But with the beating that clowns have been taking on social media recently, a lot of people are speaking up.And that includes King himself, who is perhaps the individual most responsible for the popular portrayal of clowns as scary. King offered support for clowns on Twitter last week."Hey, guys, time to cool the clown hysteria - most of 'em are good, cheer up the kiddies, make people laugh," the tweet read.