Protester attacks wax Beckham Nativity

[Tiassa]

Source: CNN.com
Link: http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/12/13/beckhams.nativity.reut/index.html
Title: "Beckham Nativity scene attacked"
Date: December 13, 2004

And you thought American liberals were annoying come Christmastime:

A protester has attacked a controversial waxwork Nativity scene featuring England soccer captain David Beckham as Joseph and his pop star wife "Posh Spice" Victoria as the Virgin Mary.

"He pushed Posh and Becks over. It caused some damage but we don't know how much. The baby Jesus is fine," said a spokeswoman for Madame Tussaud's waxwork museum in London on Monday.

Anglicans, Catholics and Presbyterians have united in calling the exhibit a new low in the cult of celebrity worship.

But Madame Tussaud's said it was popular with the public, who were outraged at Sunday's vandalism.

CNN.com

Posh and Beckham were not the only celebrities in the display:

In the wax tableau, Australian pop star Kylie Minogue hovers above the crib as an angel while Victoria lays her shawled head tenderly on Beckham's shoulder.

Tony Blair, George W. Bush and the Duke of Edinburgh star as The Three Wise Men. The shepherds are played by Hollywood star Samuel L. Jackson, British actor Hugh Grant and camp Irish comedian Graham Norton.

CNN.com

They didn't happen to make a waxen Stewie Griffin for the baby Jesus, did they? Better yet, Ike Braslavsky. Oh, hell, there must be some three-dimensional infant ... maybe Michael Jackson's dangled baby?

I'm just going to bet this wasn't an atheist or leftist behind this attack. After all, the atheist would file a complaint in court instead, and the leftist would leave a detailed note explaining how Marx justifies the vandalism of a wax statue.

Apparently the tabloid media in the UK is playing it up. Any good headlines going on over there?
____________________

Notes:

Reuters. "Beckham Nativity scene attacked". CNN.com, December 13, 2004. See http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/12/13/beckhams.nativity.reut/index.html
​

 

[sideshowbob]

Speaking of "celebrity worship", there are only four so-called "celebrities" in that Nativity that I could pick out of a line-up. And the only one I actually recognized (on the news) was Dubbya. The people who actually recognized that the Nativity characters were "celebrities" are guilty of more than a little celebrity worship themselves.

And Dubbya and Prince Phil as Wise Men? Obviously, Tussauds weren't taking it tooooo seriously.

 

[Silas]

As an atheist, if I'd seen that "celebrity Nativity", I would have thrown up.

Celebrity worship is getting even worse than God-figure worship now...!

Good point about the "Wise Men" Bob!

 

[Cris]

It was a commedy skit. The British have a very healthy practice of making commedy out of religion - something that is dangerous to try in the USA - a country that only talks about freedom but takes unsubtle steps to stifle it.

Only the humorless have a problem with this event. This display has a deep set of subtle messages that I do find very amusing. The 3 wise men - LOL - Prince Philip is well known for making a fool of himself and Dubya doubly so. And Blair is now seen as the fool for his support of WMD not in Iraq.

A play on opposing roles for the characters they portray, and of opposite public versus private personas. Neat.

 

[Silas]

We're just on the point of introducing laws outlawing inciting religious hatred, which is so badly drafted it will stop the making of jokes about religion. It has been introduced as a sop to Muslims, but many people, especially comedians, have been up in arms about it.

Obviously if the display is a joke, then I heartily approve.

 

[Cris]

That will be a sad day for the UK.

 

[Raithere]

I wonder,

Who are all the other nativity scenes are modeled on anyway?
Or does someone actually have an original of that Kodak moment?

Me, I'm sticking with my nativity scene belt buckle.
Nothing says bible belt like... well... a bible belt.

~Raithere

P.S. Of course, there are worse things that can happen to a nativity scene:

Charleston police arrested an East Bank man for allegedly having sex with a sheep used in a West Side funeral home's live nativity scene.

Joey Armstrong, 29, allegedly broke into a shed that housed the animals used in the holiday scene at the Bartlett-Burdette-Cox Funeral Home on Tennessee Avenue about 5:50 a.m. Saturday, Charleston Police Sgt. Brent Webster said.

Police, who were responding to a suspicious person call, say they found the suspect at the nativity scene, Webster said.

Armstrong was charged with trespassing, destruction of property and cruelty to animals. He was being held at South Central Regional Jail on $2,500 bond.

Webster said police are consulting with the prosecutor's office and bestiality charges could be issued against Armstrong.

http://www.crazynews.net/dp/1-39.htm

 

[Tiassa]

Oh dear God.

I mean, oh, f@ck.

No, wait. Um ... oh sh@t?

I think that one works.