The unexpected appearance of a satirical, and possibly disruptive, Mardi Gras group at a Sunday parade has caused backlash on social media, prompting a response from the ‘tit Rex krewe.
Just before parade time, a cluster of clowns wearing camouflaged costumes, white face paint and red rubber noses, gathered near the starting point of the miniature procession on St. Roch Avenue. The group called themselves “The Irrational Guard” and seemed to parody the military security forces deployed to the city during Carnival.
The four women and two men observed at the popular New Orleans parade brandished colorful toy guns, talked into dubious walkie-talkies, pretended to nap on the ground, and passed out tiny pamphlets declaring that “Martial Gras Is In Effect.”
Before the parade got underway, a Times-Picayune reporter had relocated to St. Claude Avenue for a better view of the procession of satirical shoebox-scale floats, which seemed to pass by as normal…