PETA Vs Macy's Thanksgiving Parade

PETA will protest Sea World's participation in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with a naked demonstration outside the flagship store.

Demonstrators wearing nothing but black and white body paint to resemble orcas will squeeze into a bathtub outside the midtown Manhattan store on Thursday to mimic orcas held in captivity and to repeat last year's demand - which was denied - that the float be excluded, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said. "It is unacceptable to confine orcas to barren tanks that, to them, are the size of a bathtub," said Delcianna Winders, PETA's deputy general counsel. The naked protest in temperatures predicted to hover just above freezing rides a wave of controversy surrounding SeaWorld after the 2013 documentary film "Blackfish" alleged the park mishandled the huge sea mammals. The marine theme park uses orcas in its aquatic shows.

This year's is the 88th edition of the parade, which will be attended by a projected 3.5 million spectators.

One Million Moms Vs Macy's

Just in via email:

The annual tradition for family entertainment had a not-so-discrete agenda this time around. This year's parade chose to send a Politically Correct message, but their plan backfired and the statement they really sent to families is that Macy's cannot be trusted. "Raise You Up" was not suitable for families for many reasons. The inappropriate act starred Kinky Boots, referencing a musical written to celebrate the differences in each other and included: (all) the men and women in thigh-high boots [mostly red pleather while others were sparkly "hooker" boots], a man in boxer shorts and men in burlesque and Moulin rouge costumes prancing around expressing themselves, RuPaul (famous drag queen) along with several men dressed in drag, transgender and transvestites, singing and dancing as an expression of "diversity" and honoring whatever sexuality you want.

The performance was sexually charged and quite offensive. Here are some, but not all of the lyrics to the song they chose to sing, to give you a better idea: Accept yourself and you'll accept others too. Let love shine. Let pride be your guide. Change the world when you change your mind. Just be who you wanna be. You're beautiful; it's beautiful! Shame on Macy's for promoting this. We cannot trust Macy's Dept. Store any longer. This is the straw that broke the camel's back. It is clear that Macy's does not have our children's best interest in mind. Macy's needs to know that trust must be earned and once trust is lost it is difficult to get back.

Note that they misidentify the lead as RuPaul. (It's Billy Porter.)

Here's that "sexually charged" performance.

Kinky Boots At the Macy's Parade

Wingnuts yesterday took to Twitter and Macy's Facebook page to scream with outraaaaaage because the Thanksgiving parade featured a performance by the cast of Kinky Boots.

New To The Parade

Hello Kitty, Papa Smurf, and something called the Elf On The Shelf are the three new balloons set to appear in tomorrow's Macy's Parade. As with many things in New York City, it's better to watch the parade on TV than it is in person. A few years ago a buddy and I went to the Upper West Side to watch the balloons being inflated on Thanksgiving Eve. We couldn't get within five blocks of the site due to the lines.

Tweet Of The Day - Joan Rivers

Joan followed up that tweet with a message that she was headed to God's Love We Deliver for her "favorite part of the holiday," delivering Thanksgiving meals to homebound HIV/AIDS patients. Below is Kylie's performance in the parade.

(Video tipped by JMG reader Fritz)

This Will Get The Gays To Watch

Kylie Minogue will perform at this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. (That sound you hear is half of Hell's Kitchen rushing to claim a front row spot.) Also performing this year:

India Arie, Big Time Rush, Betty Buckley, Ann Hampton Callaway, the casts of Broadway’s American Idiot, Elf, Memphis, Million Dollar Quartet, the Big Apple Circus, the cast and Muppets of Sesame Street, Miranda Cosgrove, Jimmy Fallon & The Roots, Gloriana, Michael Grimm, Arlo Guthrie, Keri Hilson, Eric Hutchinson, Juanes, Victoria Justice, Gladys Knight, Mannheim Steamroller, Miss USA 2010 Rima Fakih, Power Rangers Samurai, Joan and Melissa Rivers, Crystal Shawanda, Jessica Simpson, and Kanye West.

It'll be interesting to see how Macy's edits Kylie's famously scantily-clad backup dancers.

RELATED: JMG reader Chev points us to this just-out tribute to Kylie featuring a LOT of beautiful boys.

Tomorrow: Macy's Balloons

The Manhattan tradition of viewing the inflating of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day balloons along Central Park West begins tomorrow at 3PM. Via Gothamist:

It's that time again—time for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. And one of the fun traditions to watching the balloons being blown up the night before. This year's Thanksgiving parade balloon inflation begins tomorrow at 3 p.m. and ends at 10 p.m., with the entrance at West 77th Street and Columbus Avenue. It does get very crowded, so be patient! The parade's 43 balloons of various sizes will be blown up on the blocks outside the American Museum of Natural History—this year's new giant balloons are the Pillsbury Doughboy, Ronald McDonald, Sailor Mickey, and Spider-Man, joining favorites like Pikachu, Kermit and "Supercute" Hello Kitty.

My pal Eddie and I tried to see this a few years ago, but couldn't get within blocks of the beginning of the line. So we did the sensible thing and went to a bar.

(Image via Gothamist)

NBC Turns Down PETA's Attempt To Ruin Everybody's Thanksgiving

NBC has turned down PETA's request to ruin Thanksgiving.

Hey, NBC: We'd like to know … if a family-friendly announcement against abusing turkeys (who live in dark, ammonia-filled sheds where workers clip their beaks, break their legs and wings, and crush their heads) doesn't meet your standards, then what does? When we first submitted our newest commercial to NBC in the hopes of running it during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the station asked us to give more information about the cruelty behind turkey slaughter to back up the statements made in the ad. But even after we sent the network this New York Times article chronicling the grisly facts about turkey factory farming, it nixed the ad, claiming that "this commercial does not meet NBC Universal standards."

Oh, The Humanity

Last night Eddie and I tried to attend the blowing up of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons on the Upper West Side, something we've never done. What I'd naively presumed would be a casual stroll down Central Park West amidst bustling parade workers turned out to be a gigantic clusterfuck, as the mild weather (60 and clear) brought out over 350,000 parade fans.

The above photo was taken at the point where we gave up. The line in front of us stretched for several blocks, crossed Columbus Avenue, then snaked back downtown in our direction for another few blocks. The people across the street from us in this photo are actually about to enter the balloon area, but we were told it would be about two hours before we got to where they were. Feh.