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Whole Foods Invaded by Angry Yes Men Movie Audience
By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 9, 2009
Modified Oct 9, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 9, 2009
Modified Oct 9, 2009
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The team behind the Yes Men movie are doing a great job getting audiences at Film Forum to participate in direct-action stunts after the screenings. On Wednesday night organizers persuaded most people in the audience to head over to a nearby Chase bank and write political stuff on the sidewalk with coal—because JP Morgan Chase underwrites Massey Energy, which does a lot of mountaintop removal coal mining. Anyway, last night they kicked it up a notch.
Following the 8 p.m. screening, almost 150 audience members marched over to the Whole Foods on Houston Street to send a message to CEO John Mackey, who's outraged many with his conservative position on health care reform. The group was joined by five protesters ensconced in post-apocalyptic SurvivaBalls, which are described as "a self-contained living system—truly, a gated community for one. If you have a SurvivaBall, even if everyone else is dying, at least you can weather all storms."
Around 10:30, the moviegoers spread throughout the store. Then one of the Yes Men agents announced "a spill in the public health aisle," and everyone came together chanting an anti-Mackey song to the tune of "Hey Mickey." Sample lyric: "Hey Mackey, you’re a swine, you’re a swine you blow my mind, hey Mackey!" (The stunt was inspired by a similar action in Oakland.)
Security promptly escorted the SurvivaBall people out, and no arrests were made, unlike a recent gathering in Stuy Cove Park. Yes Men "secret agent" Joseph Huff-Hannon tells us audiences have been "flying into a rage after seeing the movie and want to vent on nearby corporate targets." Following tonight's 8 p.m. screening, Rev Billy will incite the crowd to unload on "one particularly blatant example of injustice" near Film Forum. So brace yourself, um...Chipotle?
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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