It seems like 21st century America is still experiencing its birth pangs in North Carolina.
Bob Dumas, it seems is the local right-wing shock jock in Raleigh, North Carolina. And coming off the election, he and his show G105 “Showgram” decided it would be a good idea to have a special float at the Saturday’s Raleigh WRAL Christmas Parade.
As described by the News & Observer …
The entry featured a black man dressed in a skirt with fairy wings, strapped to a harness that was suspended from the back of a tow truck. Dumas, riding on the float, described the scene to parade goers as “Tyrone the Black Christmas Fairy” who was going to turn “crackers” into Beyonce.
Predictably now, everyone is running for cover. The organizers of the parade say they had no advanced warning of the what was coming. Jennifer Martin of The Greater Raleigh Merchants Association told the local alt weekly: “We were told it would be the ghost of Christmas Present Angel, and he would be floating over the air and not hanging from the back. I can tell you we are going to have a sit-down with G105 with and their producers.”
Chris Edge, the station’s operations manager, disputes that and says the float was pre-approved.
What I didn’t realize when I first read this story is that “Tyrone” wasn’t a piñata or mannequin. He was an actual person. According to the station, he is “Tyrone Dunston”, not a employee of the station but a “longtime fan of the show.”
