Cher arrives at the premiere of "Chevalier" in Los Angeles on April 16, 2023. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, Filer)
By Mark Kennedy
Cher is obviously a superstar but even a superstar can be the opening act when it comes to Santa.
Organizers of this year's Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade have nabbed the Oscar-, Emmy- and Grammy Award-winner for their 97th annual event. Cher will make her appearance just before the parade's end, signaled by the arrival of Santa’s sleigh, parade organizers said.
This year’s parade will feature 16 giant character balloons, 26 floats, 32 novelty and heritage inflatables, 12 marching bands, 700 clowns and eight performance groups.
It's a busy time for Cher, who is preparing to release a 25th-anniversary edition of her Grammy-winning album “Believe” and just dropped her first new album in five years, “Christmas.”
For the first time in its long history, the holiday tradition will begin at 8:30 a.m. ET, half an hour earlier than previous years, kicked off by multi-instrumentalist and Grammy-winner Jon Batiste.
There will be appearances by Bell Biv DeVoe, Brandy, Chicago, En Vogue, ENHYPEN, David Foster and Katharine McPhee, Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors, Jessie James Decker, Ashley Park with some Muppets from “Sesame Street,” Pentatonix, Paul Russell, Amanda Shaw and Alex Smith, and Manuel Turizo.
U.S. Olympic gymnastics silver medalist Jordan Chiles, U.S. track and field Paralympian Ezra Frech and U.S. Paralympic swimming gold medalist Jessica Long and Miss America 2023 Grace Stanke will also join the festivities.
Seven new balloon giants will join the lineup: “Beagle Scout Snoopy,” “Blue Cat & Chugs,” “Kung Fu Panda’s Po,” “Leo,” “Monkey D. Luffy,” “Pillsbury Doughboy” and “Uncle Dan.”
Broadway will be represented by performances from “& Juliet,” “Back to the Future: The Musical,” “How To Dance In Ohio,” “Shucked” and “Spamalot,” with an appearance by Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells of “Gutenberg! The Musical!"
Returning giant balloons include “Bluey,” “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” “Paw Patrol,” “Ryan's World,” “Pikachu,” “Ronald McDonald,” "Stuart the Minion" and “SpongeBob SquarePants.”
The Macy’s parade has been a traditional holiday season kickoff and spectators often line up a half-dozen deep along the route to cheer the marchers, floats, entertainers and marching bands. The parade has lately asked icons to be the last guest before Santa, with last year Mariah Carey fitting the bill.
A marching band from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, the scene of one of the nation's worst school shootings, will represent Florida. Other marching bands this year will represent Alabama, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Washington, New York, Illinois, New Jersey and Texas.
Floats include ones from brands like Lego, “Peanuts,” “Baby Shark,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and “Sesame Street.”
The parade airs on NBC and streams on Peacock. Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker from “Today” will host and a Spanish language simulcast on Telemundo will be hosted by Carlos Adyan and Andrea Meza.
Catching you up on what you need to know on April 19, 2022, with a federal judge voiding mask mandates on public transportation, updates from the Russia and Ukraine war, Mac Miller’s drug dealer sentenced for involvement in the rapper's death, and more.
The 1993 historical drama 'Schindler's List' tells the story of a Nazi party member who helped thousands of Polish Jewish refugees escape death during the Holocaust. Today, Ukrainians are living a very similar reality as Russia continues to invade, and refugees are fleeing for safety. Oliwia Dabrowska was three years old when she became an integral part of "Schindler's List." You'll remember her as "the little girl in the red coat" representing a symbol of hope. Today she's 32 years old living in Poland and once again representing hope for refugees. Dabrowska joins Cheddar News to discuss her experience and tell viewers how to help.
As TikTok grows in popularity, so does its ad revenue potential. Research firm Insider Intelligence forecasts the app's revenue will likely triple in 2022 to more than $11 billion, putting it past the sales of both Twitter and Snapchat combined. Cheddar News takes a closer look.
Snapchat has launched its first features to help users learn American Sign Language through its lenses and a game. The project was spearheaded by deaf and hard-of-hearing workers. Cheddar News was joined by Austin Vaday, software engineer at Snap, and his sign language interpreter, Jonathan Webb, to discuss the ASL Fingerspelling Lens and how the project came together. “We wanted to find a way to appropriately and properly educate the community so that folks can communicate with people like me using sign language," Vaday stated.
The new Netflix documentary "White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch" dives into how the once apparel retailer used an exclusionary business model, focusing on the "popular and cool kids," to thrive for years until its discriminatory culture and practices led to a consumer backlash. Anthony Ocampo, a professor of sociology at Cal Poly Pomona and former Abercrombie & Fitch employee, and Ben O’Keefe, a social change activist and head of diversity and impact production at Creator+, discussed the film and the retailer's rebranding in light of many allegations brought against it. "I got a job at Abercrombie & Fitch, and I worked there for a couple of weeks. But then when I went back to that same store after the academic year ended to get my job back, I was told by someone, I'm sorry, we can't rehire you because we already had too many Filipinos working at this store," Ocampo said.
Mona Shaikh, stand-up comedian and host of 'Minority Reportz,' joins Cheddar News to discuss her recent guest column in The Hollywood Reporter titled "Blame Louis C.K.'s Grammy Comeback on Comedy's Gatekeepers."
Mark Murrell, founder and CEO of Get Maine Lobster, joins Cheddar News to discuss the launch of the company's NFT, which is inspired by a cotton candy lobster named Haddie.
