I lamented last year about how much I disliked the gore of October 31st. "Haunted houses" here have turned into Jeffrey Dahmer horror chambers. Some may find that entertaining, but if you've ever known anyone who has had a family member murdered and dismembered; not so amusing! But this story taken from the Dayton Daily News takes the cake:Kings Island amusement park in Mason has removed a controversial scene from its upcoming Halloween Haunt event, set to open this Friday, Sept. 25, according to park spokesman Don Helbig.
“We were not intending to be distasteful, and we apologize if we offended anyone,” Helbig said in a statement released Thursday, Sept. 24.
An area TV station posted images of skeletons dressed to resemble dead celebrities, including pitchman Billy Mays, singer Michael Jackson, Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas and actress Farrah Fawcett.
Football star Steve McNair is depicted as a skeleton on a couch wearing a Tennessee Titans jersey and a helmet with a hole in the top. Draped across the skeleton’s lap is a depiction of Sahel Kazemi, McNair’s 20-year-old mistress, who police said murdered the football star, shooting him twice in the body and twice in the head in July before committing suicide.
The photos also show a skeletal depiction of entertainer-turned-politician Sonny Bono, who died in a 1998 skiing accident, posed in front of a tree and baseball legend Ted Williams, whose remains were cryogenically frozen after his death in 2002, is posed inside of a glass-door freezer.
It’s unclear whether the park has removed a shop window display already seen by the public. In the display, a skeleton dressed as Death sits at a desk with a list of recently deceased celebrities and public figures at his side, including Ed McMahon, Bea Arthur and Ted Kennedy. All the names are crossed off.
A marker board with the word “agenda” shows dead celebrities names’ crossed off and living celebrities waiting to be crossed off. Those celebrities include comedian Carrot Top, actors Kevin Bacon and Robert Pattinson, TV personality Kim Kardashian, convicted felon Bernie Madoff, football player Ben Roethlisberger and singers Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and The Jonas Brothers. Also included on the list: “universal health care” and the fictional characters Dora The Explorer and Hello Kitty.
Can you imagine the group of morons sitting around a conference table who came up with this brilliant theme?
that really is unbelieveably tasteless.
ReplyDeletei remember my inlaws coming to visit one october and taking us all to a restuarant. we didn't know it would be all decked out for halloween. our middle child was about 4 and completely freaked out by the 7 ft frankenstein statue near our table. since the resturant seemed pretty full we didn't ask to be seated elswhere we just turned frankie around to face the wall. the waitress asked why and we told her it upset the kid. she seemed stunned and asked if we didn't like the decorations. we did then say that the severed body parts around the area seemed a bit gross for a dining establishment.
yeah, we could have left to go soemwhere else but we had small kids and everyone was hungry. going eslewhere meant more of a delay and hungrier (ergo crankier) kids.
"Appropriate" seems to be concept lost on many. Something that may be truly funny, isn't necessarily appropriate, ya know!?
ReplyDeleteThey forgot Michael J. Fox. . .
ReplyDeleteSorry; I actually agree with you, Cocotte. I just have never gotten the 'fun part' of death; the fascination with morbidity and the macabre that animates so much of present-day 'observance' of Halloween is just, um, wack. . .
Was there alcohol involved?
ReplyDeleteIt's actually rather funny in concept. It would be the kind of thing people might sit around laughing about, but I would think a businessman with any sense would know better than to actually DO it.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of funny that it got as far as it did, just because it's obviously such a bad idea from a marketing/PR standpoint.
Lime - I can't imagine a RESTAURANT thinking severed body parts was appropriate. GROSS!
ReplyDeleteLaggin - That is the key word: "appropriate." Mocking those who have recently passed away is unbelievable to me.
Des - I remember that we agreed on the topic last year. "Wack" is a good word for it.
Russ - That is a very good question and I'm guessing the answer is "yes."
FTN - Apparently, the display was set up and ready to go, until outsiders came in and had to tell park officials how inappropriate it truly was. And that part is rather amusing.
Popped in to say hi! How tacky is that!!
ReplyDeleteI read somewhere this week that Billy Mays' son was encouraging people to dress up as a zombie version of his father for Halloween, going on about how easy it would be. Khaki pants, denim shirt, fake beard, rotting make up. Then he wanted people to send him off photos. So...yep...but no.
ReplyDeleteDuck - Thanks for stopping by!
ReplyDeleteFADKOG - Yikes. I can't imagine losing a parent and then suggesting something like that. Just disturbing.
That's outrageously unfunny. Me, I don't care for the gore aspects of Halloween either, and don't go to things like huanted houses. I like carved pumpkins, webs and spiders, witches and skeletons (no blood or severed heads). Spooky, but not disgusting.
ReplyDeleteThey use the classic "non-apology" apology. "We're sorry if anyone was offended," not "We're sorry for having offended anyone", like they didn't actually do anything wrong and it's kind of your fault for being so sensitive, you pussies.
ReplyDeleteHow about, "We're sorry for not considering how offensive this display actually was. We're sorry for putting it up and offending the friends and families of the deceased."
That sounds funny as shit.
ReplyDeleteI agree, it wouldn't be funny if a relative was tragically murdered.
But, to think of a Major Theme Park doing something like that, on that type of scale, and not even thinking twice until the shit in the fan.....Now that is funny.
Wrong, Yes. Funny, YES YES. Creative and imaginative, Super Yes.
I'd kind of be okay with Dora, but I wouldn't want my kids to see that. The rest is completely tasteless.
ReplyDeleteKinda reminds me of a South Park episode.
ReplyDeleteHmmm... I just backspaced out a bunch of other stuff cuz it's against the grain of everything else said here, so I'll *zip* it. lol ;)