The Internet rightly rained down at the parade of these bozos.
Event organizers at the 40th Annual Corn Popcorn Festival in Valparaiso, Indiana, are being set on fire online by a tasteless 9/11 parade float unveiled on Saturday.
“We worked very hard to show our love, respect, our grief … to all the 9/11 victims, to the soldiers who died in Afghanistan and to our first respondents,” the headline reads. of a video of the grotesque exhibition, published by the Republicans of Valparaiso, the group that commissioned the float. Although the food and craft fair traditionally has nothing to do with 9/11, organizers decided to offer a tribute as the festival fell on the twentieth anniversary of the terrorist attacks, the Chicago Tribune reported.
And boy, did he do it again.
The clip shows the controversial gray rectangular replicas of the World Trade Center flowing smoke, simulated by a fog machine, just before falling to the ground. The towers even featured painted holes adorned with red plastic streamers to symbolize the fire that started after American Airlines flights 11 and 175 crashed into the buildings.
Between the two smoky towers was a distressing plaque showing the names of the 2,977 people killed in the attacks on the towers and the Pentagon. Meanwhile, the front featured portraits of 13 members of the local service killed in the ensuing war on terror and a banner with the words “Never forget.”
The crown jewel of the gathering was a recording of farewell messages received by the families of the victims when their loved ones realized that their fate was sealed.
Suffice it to say that the deaf-toned tribute created such a fierce reaction before the event that the Facebook group hid critical reactions and limited what people can comment on their page.
A Chicago-based critic described the float as “beyond bad taste, even without the fog machine going.”
“Did you really play the survivors’ phone message recordings?” they smoked. “Who thought it was a good idea ??”
“What the hell were the Porter County Republicans thinking?” splashed another incredulous commenter. “This video made me sick.”
Another wrote, “How this was allowed as a memorial to the 9/11 victims is total madness.”
In another video of the float posted on YouTube, you can hear a viewer of the parade say, “This is a bit cheeky.”
Despite the outrage, it seems that the Republicans of Valparaiso are clinging to their weapons.
“An email we just received. Great job with the float, I know what work was put into it,” the group wrote in a comment posted under its clip, citing an alleged supporter. “I know people think it’s a misfortune, but that wasn’t your intention. You also put the names of the victims in the center as a memorial.”
“‘Everyone has to be sensitive to everything right now. I’m proud to live in Valparaiso and I’d love to be there to see that,” they added.
It’s not the first time someone has taken to the heat for an insensitive 9/11 commemoration. Currently, a couple faces online music to organize an “obscene and revolting” wedding with 9/11 themes after sharing an online image of the custom wedding party koozie of the wedding with the Twin towers.