美国国家公共电台 NPR What The Ba-kaaaawk? Activist Behind #TrumpChicken Isn't Done Yet(在线收听) |
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: A giant, inflatable chicken which looked oddly like President Trump appeared outside the White House on Wednesday. It created a sensation and then disappeared. With her curiosity piqued, NPR's Vanessa Romo went to investigate. VANESSA ROMO, BYLINE: There it was just hovering in the background of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Eventually it became so distracting that even Fox News host Shepard Smith on live TV couldn't help himself. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) SHEPARD SMITH: Before we go, behind the White House, over your shoulder, there - we see this shot all the time. But what is that? JOSH LEDERMAN: Shep, it appears to be a very large chicken display. SMITH: A what - seriously? ROMO: Seriously. It turns out the 30-foot inflatable chicken, with its swoopy, golden coif and tie-shaped red waddle, was actually glowering at President Trump's home in protest. TARAN SINGH BRAR: The messaging is that the president's too afraid; he's a weak and insecure leader and playing a game of chicken with North Korea. ROMO: That's Taran Singh Brar, the man behind the bird behind the White House. I caught him on his cellphone. He knows Trump wasn't there to see it. He's on a work vacay in New Jersey. But, Brar says... BRAR: The president himself is, like, so visibly obsessed that I know something like this, like, has potency. ROMO: Apparently it took the 31-year-old documentary filmmaker four months to sort out all of the paperwork for his one-chicken demonstration. And he spent hours studying cable news channels to figure out the bird's best camera angles because... BRAR: I understood that if I positioned it correctly, I would be in full view of the cameras, which I knew would be what would take it viral globally. ROMO: He was not wrong. Within hours of erecting the fowl on the lawn, the bird had achieved ultimate made-it status - #TrumpChicken. So where did the chicken come from in the first place? CASEY LATIOLAIS: I'm Casey Latiolais, and I created the Trump chicken. ROMO: Why did the world need a Trump chicken? LATIOLAIS: So... ROMO: Latiolais says a Chinese real estate company contracted him to come up with the design to celebrate the Chinese New Year. This is the year of the rooster. Officially, the company won't acknowledge that it is in fact supposed to strike a resemblance to the 45th president. But when I asked Latiolais what makes it so Trumpy (ph), he said... LATIOLAIS: Probably just a combination of all the things - the golden hair, the hand gestures and the eyebrows. Plus, it's a little plump. ROMO: The chicken is not done with D.C. Brar, the activist, is planning another spectacle. BRAR: What we have planned next is probably going to be more of a visual feast. It's a mock military parade. ROMO: That's right, a mock military parade. Vanessa Romo, NPR News, Washington. (SOUNDBITE OF MATT HUGHES' "PITCH BLACK CITY") |
原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/npr2017/8/413141.html |