Video Of Dancers Being Forced To Perform In Horse Poop During Thanksgiving Day Parade Sparks Debate

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is a spectacle to talk about every year, and with performances by Busta Rhymes and Wicked's Cynthia Erivo and floats from Stranger Things and Toy Story, this year was no different.

But this year, people had something else to talk about, and the reason is pretty disgusting.

Every year, the NYPD are featured riding their horses in the parade, and they often leave some pretty stinky evidence behind. As long as it's cleaned up quickly, it really shouldn't be a problem.

But just outside Macy's storefront location, the dancers who performed right after the NYPD passed by were forced to deal with some poop that hadn't been scooped, and several of them had to dance in it—one for the entire routine.

The worst part is that the young women were in dance flats that provide so little coverage for their feet, many viewers of a viral video thought they were performing barefoot. While they had these small flats and jazz tights on, they were still exposed to the germs, and their expensive garments were likely ruined during the performance.

TikToker @martymcflizzy1 shared a close-up video of the young women working through their performance and tryig not to slip.

The TikToker quipped in a text overlay:

"[The] real definition of 'the show must go on'!"

You can watch the video here:

Fellow TikTokers demanded justice for the young dancers.

@martymcflizzy1/TikTok

@martymcflizzy1/TikTok

@martymcflizzy1/TikTok

@martymcflizzy1/TikTok

@martymcflizzy1/TikTok

@martymcflizzy1/TikTok

Other TikTokers agreed and pointed out how easily this could have been avoided.

@martymcflizzy1/TikTok

@martymcflizzy1/TikTok

@martymcflizzy1/TikTok

@martymcflizzy1/TikTok

@martymcflizzy1/TikTok

The conversation quickly went viral and spread to other platforms, like Twitter (X), where @Kaimandante was particularly furious, demanding:

"Fire every adult involved in making these girls dance in s**t."

@Kaimandante/Twitter (X)

Fellow X users found what happened to be incredibly problematic.

In response to the backlash, a representative for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade said:

"We work closely with the New York City Department of Sanitation to assist with cleanup efforts along the route, on 34th Street, and at the staging area."

"As soon as we learned about the situation, we immediately engaged store maintenance colleagues to help with further cleanup efforts as quickly as possible."

Those dancers deserved better treatment than they received, and proper planning could have kept this from happening. After all, if horses are present along the parade route, chances are there will be poop to scoop.