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This is sickening

madhjsp

madhjsp

Giga Poster
Skeletons dressed and positioned to resemble ex-NFL quarterback Steve McNair and his mistress, Sahel Kazemi, are part of a Halloween display at Kings Island.

The display at the Ohio park's Halloween Haunt shows McNair sitting up on a couch with Kazemi lying across his lap. There is a hole in the top of McNair's football helmet.

Kazemi fatally shot McNair before killing herself July 4 in Nashville.

Halloween Haunt opens Friday and Saturday from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Other celebrities included are Michael Jackson in pajamas, Health Ledger with pill bottles and Sonny Bono on skis.

"You're gonna see Ted Kennedy, Ed McMahon and there's still other ones yet to be placed," Don Helbig of Kings Island told WLWT.

Channel 4 News made efforts to contact Kings Island management in Cincinnati, but they didn't return calls. However, they told WSMV's Cincinnati affiliate that there was "a lot of intense imagery, suggestive themes and things like that, so if you have young children, don't bring them to Halloween Haunt."

Fans at McNair's restaurant, Gridiron 9, told Channel 4 they won't be attending the park's display.

"It's distasteful, you know," said one fan outside Gridiron 9. "Let him rest in peace."
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Maybe it's just because I'm a huge Tennessee Titans fan and Steve McNair was my favorite player when I was a kid, but I think this is just incredibly disturbing. Having skeletons around in gruesome poses for a Halloween event is one thing, it's expected. But deliberately having them positioned like dead celebrities, including victims of a murder-homicide and a drug overdose? Sickening.
 
Hmm, it is in bad taste. I don't mind the odd joke about a celeb when they die, but this is really disrespectful about the dead.

Are they going to put rows of skeletons representing American soldiers killed in Iraq?

Then again, it does appear to be quite tongue-in-cheek, but still...
 
This does seem bad. Like Ian said it does seem tongue-in-cheek but even so it does seem a bit over the top.
 
That's really stupid.. Why do they have to put up displays like this instead of just sticking to normal Halloween decoration like they usually do? I don't think many people will find this funny, because it's really bad taste, and yah, I don't think it's a great move for Kings Island to be doing something like this.

Well it's not like I'll be going there but if enough people complain I doubt the displays will stay up, or at least be up next season.

The thing is though, a lot of the deaths are really fresh so it makes it even worse than if the person had been dead for years and years. There's never a point where death is funny, but obviously fresh = people will be more sensitive to it.
 
Love it, love it, love it.

It's just skeletons with clothes and props suggesting the dead celebrities.

And, perhaps it's an appropriate aftereffect of the over-sensationalizing of celeb gossip and "news". It's certainly a product of the star-driven culture.

Howzabout Farrah and Patrick on chemo?
;)
 
Its certainly going to get them more publicity which will attract the crowds but I feel its going a bit over the top especially for such a major park.

There is one thing having skeletons on display but taking the piss out of someone who has died after an accident is going a bit too far.
 
Update: After a storm of complaints, the Steve McNair skeleton has been removed. And the spokesman for KI is a complete jackass.

When reached by FanHouse, a spokesperson for Kings Island, Don Helbig, said the following, "There will not be a scene at our Halloween event that features Steve McNair or anyone that resembles him."

With video and pictures of the skeletons circulating online, Helbig at first declined to acknowledge that they had ever existed. "There was no reference to Steve McNair at all. No jersey, nothing." Upon being informed that the pictures and video were already online, Helbig again insisted that the skeletons would not be featured on Friday when the event opens. Pressed as to when the skeletons were removed from the park, Helbig stuck to his talking points. "Our event does not open until Friday," he said, "We meant him no disrespect."
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Doesn't say anything about the Heath Ledger or Michael Jackson displays, though.
I'm all for Halloween displays with gruesome imagery, but this is different. I agree with Taylor here... it's just too soon. The fact that these people have died recently means that people are going to be more sensitive to them. Also, it would be one thing if they had just died from natural causes because they were old, but all of these people died in tragic ways, and to make fun of that is taking things too far.
 
I'm all for pollitical incorrectness, but this is a bit much... It is supposed to be satirical, but they have over stepped the mark here.
 
You would think a larger corporate park like this wouldn't take the risk of something that will almost certainly produce bad press. I would expect they'd see their self-image as more important then that. I expect it was probably just a few within the theming department... who may not have long left for their jobs...
 
This is funny! Love it. Its a bit of fun, a laugh. Can't anybody have any ****ing fun anymore without someone being a complete killjoy.
 
^ It's not being a killjoy.. It's having respect. If someone you knew died and I made fun of it, I doubt you'd appreciate it either. Maybe people didn't know these people personally, but either way, it's still very bad taste.

If they remove the Steve McNair one, all of them should be removed.
 
WOW, this is something you'd never usually hear! An outrageously distasteful joke to play really. Not good for the park at all.

I am telling you, if this was done in the UK, we wouldn't stop hearing about it for years!
 
I don't really think this is right. It's in poor taste, and a little disrespectful.

Having said that, if it was someone everyone hated then we wouldn't be having this argument, would we?
 
I'm glad they took it down, it didn't offend me at all but I can see it offending many people. I don't like how Kings Island and other CF parks are making Halloween seem like a holiday to make fun of dead people and have half naked people stripping in cages. Isn't Halloween supposed to be all about being scared? Not offended...
 
I just don't get it!

If people started dressing up like Michael Jackson for Halloween, know one would go.... oooooo thats bad, thats bad..... really really bad
 
Um. Hello? These aren't actually the celebs! The only reason people are getting the hump is because they are taking what is a tongue-in-cheek dig at the media the wrong way. PC can go cook it's balls in the microwave thank you very much! :wink:
 
Wow, and I thought Six Flags was retarded. This is an entire new low.

I can see if you dressed up like them in honor of them, but doing it like this?! No. NO. That's just sickening. Especially with the whole Michael Jackson thing. People are still upset about it, and a few weeks ago it really dawned on me that he's REALLY never going to be appearing anymore (even though I knew he was dead).

I feel they are just insulting his name.
 
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