A boat displaying the now-ubiquitous taunt towards President Joe Biden, “Let’s go Brandon”, was stripped of its prize after it won the holiday boat parade in Virginia’s rural Yorktown.
“The annual lighted boat parade is a fun holiday tradition for families in Yorktown,” said local WAVY, “but this year’s has been marked with controversy. The winner was stripped of his trophy because of the political messaging on his boat.”
This boat bedecked with “Let’s Go Brandon – FJB” wins first prize at the Yorktown Christmas Boat Parade, supposedly a family event. One of the judges was Chairman of York County BOS.
Seriously, F all Trump supporters.#TrumpTrash #Trump https://t.co/eSlFLLeWVY— Get Vaccinated Already (@NoVaTwitr) December 9, 2021
The Yorktown Foundation, a 501©(3) nonprofit, said that they were prohibited by the IRS from supporting anything that was political.
Walt Akers, a board member of the Yorktown Foundation said “the foundation, which operates with annual contributions from the county, could lose its tax-exempt status from the IRS if it ‘tolerates’ the political messaging in an event it sponsored,” according to the Daily Press.
“Therefore, we will not tolerate it,” Akers said.
Still the owner of the winning boat, Bill Berger, seem pleased with his entry after it got best in show from a panel of judges.
“Berger didn’t respond to an interview request from The Post. But in a Facebook post published Monday, he defended his contest entry and said everyone knows who really won,” said the Post.
“When we left, we were declared the winner,” Berger said according to local WTKR. “48 hours later it was stripped from us and I think it’s from pressure.”
Others, however, were as offended as could be, as offended as a proverbial Christmas snowflake, by the boat and its message.
“This was divisive. It was ugly. It was vulgar,” said Teri Hodson, 59, a local York resident, according to the Washington Post.
So parade organizers promised that they will enact special rules and procedures to make sure that Hudson and others aren’t so affronted, promising that otherwise such parades won’t happen in the future.
“The parade’s parent organization, the nonprofit Yorktown Foundation, disqualified the boat retroactively and stripped it of its title, citing its ‘overt political message,” said the Washington Post. “The nonprofit’s board apologized and voted to continue the parade only if organizers put in safeguards to block political entries from future participation.”
