There’s been a big controversy at Kings Island surrounding a Halloween display that depicted the deaths of celebrities including former NFL quarterback Steve McNair. A promo video for the “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. Another skeleton resembled Heath Ledger and had pill bottles around it. Ledger died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs in 2008. A number of other celebrities were featured in the display including Billy Mays, Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Ted Kennedy, and Ed McMahon
Halloween Haunts opens to the public on Friday. Kings Island spokesperson Don Helbig released a statement after pulling the display. “Kings Island has removed the celebrity scene from its Halloween Haunt event. We were not intending to be distasteful, and we apologize if we offended anyone.”
The controversy surrounding the display has received national attention. News of the McNair skeleton led to angry calls on the radio in Nashville (McNair played for the Tennessee Titans). The article was also posted on the homepage of Yahoo! and blogged about on Yahoo! Sports pages.
I don’t know what to think about this one. While it was inappropriate, it was great free press for the park.
It was inappropriate would it keep you from visiting the park? Probably not.