(Illustration courtesy of Joey Skaggs.)
Joey Skaggs is at it again. The longtime prankster has made a profession out of feeding the media false information in order to highlight and satirize their gullibility. His victims range from Fox to The Washington Post. In October of last year, director Andrea Marini released Art of the Prank, a documentary that covers Skaggs’s history as an artist and his many hoaxes. Yet despite the media’s growing awareness of Skaggs and his MO, he continues to disseminate elaborate scoops to the press.
Today, Skaggs sent out a press release for the 33rd Annual April Fools’ Day Parade, a parade that does not exist. The release promotes an extravagant spectacle which will include Donald Trump lookalikes, UCLA basketball players selling stolen sunglasses from China, security in the form of neo-Nazi white supremacists, and a parade-wide event of taking a knee in front of Trump Tower. While some have been fooled by past versions of the parade, these days it’s seen as more of an amusing tradition than a cunning ruse.
Enjoy the full press release below:
New York, New York — New York’s irreverent April Fools’ Day Parade poking fun at the past year’s displays of hype, hypocrisy, deceit, bigotry, and downright foolishness, returns! For the 33rd year, participants will bring outrageous floats and dress up in colorful costumes to mirror the folly of the nuttiest politicians, corporate leaders, celebrities and whoever else has proved to be a total fool in the past year. If it rains, marchers are encouraged to decorate umbrellas with slogans or images so their messages can be seen by people looking out their windows from above. Nothing is sacred. Our satire knows no bounds.
The theme for this year’s parade is “TAKE A KNEE!” The parade will begin at 5th Avenue and 59th Street at 12 noon, Sunday, April 1, 2018. The procession will march down 5th Avenue, pause at Trump Tower at 56th Street and 5th where participants will, in spirit with Colin Kaepernick, “take a knee” in solidarity against police abuse. It will then proceed downtown to Washington Square Park for the climactic crowning of the King of Fools.
Last year’s April Fools’ Day Parade “Trumpathon”—the world’s largest gathering of masked Donald Trump look-alikes was so successful that organizers vowed to repeat it. Get your Donald Trump look-alike mask here. Print it, cut it out and wear it to the parade: http://aprilfoolsdayparade.com/trumpmask.pdf. The parade committee will have hundreds of extra masks on hand in case you need one. We’re going for a new world record for the largest assembly of Donald Trump look-alikes. Please tweet @artoftheprank and invite all your friends to this Second Annual Trumpathon!
We kick off this year with Trump’s Grand Military Parade, the world’s largest display of American military might ever! Please bring your own military toys, such as toy tanks, planes, rockets, GI Joe dolls, etc.. The Parade Grand Marshall will once again be a Donald Trump look-alike attempting to sing the National Anthem. Marchers may sing along with any words they wish. Color commentary made up of alternative facts will be provided by a Kellyanne Conway look-alike. Sexual Predator look-alikes from Hollywood will do a Game of Thrones Walk of Shame. A Tonya Harding look-alike will inline-skate through the parade clubbing marchers in the knee. Intermittently, emergency sirens will warn of an imminent nuclear attack. Security for the parade will be provided by Neo-Nazi White Supremacists in brown shirts. In a stealth attack, which could happen anywhere along the route, DACA Dreamers and other immigrants will spring from the parade-watching crowd and herd all Nazis onto a Trump Campaign Bus retrofitted for prisoner transport. They will be taken to Washington DC and press-ganged into building Trump’s border wall around the Whitehouse.
The public is encouraged to participate in or out of costume, with or without floats, and may join the procession at any point along the parade route. This year, due to the Takata airbag recalls, there will be no auto-drawn floats. Floats can be no wider than 10 feet and no longer than 30 feet and can be self-propelled, towed, pushed or pulled. Customized bicycles, tricycles, baby carriages and aerial balloons are welcome.
Says Parade Founder and Organizer, Joey Skaggs, “As we prepare for the parade each year, we’re dumbfounded by the sheer volume of greed, inequity, narcissism, exploitation, social injustice, and threats of annihilation. One parade is never enough to encompass the true folly of mankind.”
As the parade enters Washington Square Park, the festivities will begin. All food concessions will be provided by sh**hole Third World countries. As long as supplies last, the H&M apparel company will hand out their insensitive “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle” hoodies. Megyn Kelly and Jane Fonda look-alikes will have a free-for-all slap-off. USA Gymnasticswill be offering free gynecological exams provided by a Larry Nassar look-alike. A Princess Michael of Kent look-alike will hawk racially offensive jewelry, and UCLA basketball players will hawk sunglasses shoplifted in China. All parade revelers are invited to experience humiliation on the United Airlines Plane Float, where they will be dragged kicking and screaming down the aisle and thrown out the door. A Kathy Griffin look-alike will auction severed Trump heads and a Michael Phelps look-alike will swim with sharks in the Washington Square Park fountain. Free Covfefewill be served to all by White House staff look-alikes.
Funding this year is provided by Steve Wynn and Vladimir Putin. Last year’s King of Fools was, no surprise, Donald Trump. This year’s King of Fool’s will be nominated by the crowd in Washington Square Park and will reign through March 31, 2019.
The Parade Committee assumes no liability for damages caused by satire. Speaking of which, for those who have not yet seen Art of the Prank, the award-winning feature documentary by Andrea Marini about Parade Committee Chair and artist-activist-satirist Joey Skaggs, it is now available on VOD and DVD. Visit the website and watch the movie trailer here: http://artoftheprank-themovie.com.
I love Joey Skaggs work! He has been at the cutting edge of satire of years. His press release is hysterical. I must make one small correction. Last year there actually was an April fools parade. I have photos to prove it. Masked Trumpsters marched down 5 th Ave wheeling 45 in a golden outhouse. This year I believe more people will download the mask and join in to give Dump the parade he desires. Stay tuned & be at Columbus Circle at noon April 1 to see all the Fools for yourself.