New York Mayor Bill De Blasio has sparked a lot of hate online after announcing that Macy’s Thanksgiving parade will be ‘reinvented’ and staged virtually this year due to safety concerns related to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic .
“It won’t be the same parade we’re used to,” De Blasio said at a press conference on Monday. “It will be a different kind of event. [Macy’s is] reinventing the event for this moment in history.
The mayor tried to downplay the magnitude of these changes by reminding citizens that the July 4 fireworks display had also been significantly reduced.
You will be able to feel the spirit and the joy of this day on TV, online – not a live parade, but something that will really give us that warmth and great feeling that we have on Thanksgiving Day.
Macy’s Thanksgiving celebration is an iconic city event, canceled for the first time in about a century, and many Americans were upset by the news. The bulk of the blame has been blamed on De Blasio, as the New York chief executive makes the day of the coronavirus lockdown and security measures directly today.
Twitter users saw the event’s cancellation as the “heartbreak” of a great tradition. Others argued that a good celebration could give the city a much-needed “moral boost” amid the pandemic and economic crisis.
Another point of American tradition torn in two … so long Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. https://t.co/Ur1ZoeF3YV
– Raymond Arroyo (@RaymondArroyo) September 14, 2020
Some people saw it as part of the ongoing American “culture war” between the country’s liberals and conservatives. They speculated that “Grinch DeBlasio” was “impatient to cancel Christmas,” comparing the mayor to the iconic character in a children’s book by Dr. Seuss.
Grinch DeBlasio won’t be happy to just cancel the Thanksgiving Parade. He can’t wait to cancel Christmas. #Timestamped #NYC pic.twitter.com/SahtUBvLxB
– Beverly A. Okay (@PekalaLaw) 14th September 2020
Next stop for @NYCMayor: Christmas.
You are mean, Mr. Grinch pic.twitter.com/yTflZwMGwp
– Pamela! ???????? Speak: @trbltrbl (@_trbltrbl_) September 14, 2020
Many commentators were particularly upset by the cancellation of the parade, while the mayor failed to put in place additional measures to prevent large gatherings in the form of the ongoing protests.
No Thanksgiving parade but one can protest, riot and loot without fear is that correct?
– john smith (@johnsmucket) 14 septembre 2020
Despite the outrage directed personally against De Blasio, neither he nor Macy has confirmed that it was the mayor’s office that chose to “reinvent” the procedure.
First held in 1924, the Thanksgiving Parade is a local tradition that draws millions of visitors each year. At the same time, New York has been one of the worst coronavirus hot spots in the world since the start of the pandemic. As of Monday, there were more than 470,000 cases and more than 19,000 confirmed deaths.
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