Isn't this the same area where people had to hold a public meeting to justify their wish to feed the homeless? A area where you could be sent to Coventry if you don't use the correct name; Beach, Beaches, The Beaches, etc.
Ed the Sock booted from Easter Parade
March 28, 2007
Bill Taylor
Feature Writer
Ed the Sock has been declared footwear non grata by the Toronto Beaches Lions Club.
The cigar-chomping, trash-talking, gravel-voiced puppet and Liana K, co-host of Ed & Red's Night Party! on Citytv, were to have been grand marshals at the Lions' annual Easter Parade on Queen St. E. April 8.
Liana K is the wife of Steve Kerzner, who created Ed the Sock 20 years ago and turned it into a ribald TV personality. The couple, perplexed and a little angry, talked to the Star yesterday from Los Angeles. They're filming segments for the late-night talk show, which features raw humour and interviews with adult-movie actors on a set that includes a hot tub.
"The Lions," Liana said. "I guess I'm used to dealing with a different kind of cat.
"It was all done by email and they seemed excited at first that we agreed. Paid? Are you crazy? Of course not. We don't take money for this kind of thing."
The Kerzners said their last email from Chris Yaccato, co-chair of the parade, withdrew the invitation because "unfortunately, the community is quite angry. ... They feel that your participation is not ideal..."
Instead, Luba Goy and Craig Lauzon of CBC's Royal Canadian Air Farce will be marshals.
Yaccato said he and other Lions officials had dozens of calls and emails after a community weekly reported that Ed the Sock would be grand marshal. "People were saying, `Are you guys crazy? This is a children's parade. What are you doing?'"
The Lions, he said, had sent out a number of letters to TV personalities "and Ed the Sock graciously accepted. I sought the approval of our board and no one really flinched. As the general membership heard about it, some showed their anxiety and then ... wham.
"I take full responsibility. I feel really bad about putting (the Kerzners) in that position. They were great, very courteous."
Ed the Sock was in the parade in 1993. "I guess then people didn't feel he was, to quote someone who called me, as raunchy," Yaccato said.
Steve Kerzner wondered: "What did they think we were going to do? We were going to sit in the back of a car. Ed would look around and Liana would wave. What I find aggravating is this perception that we're ... uncontrollable. We're working professionals. We know how to address ourselves to the crowd in the appropriate way."
Liana said she recently did fundraisers for the Casey House hospice and a women's shelter. "Both were quite happy to have me. We've done work in schools and educational programming. We did MuchMusic stuff for years in prime time and there was a different approach than for our late-night show. It's adult-oriented because it's on at 11:30 at night.
"It's not the Lions' fault," she said. "You've got to do what people want you to do. I'm betting the ones who are complaining have never seen our show. They have some rough-hewn impression of what it's about and what it is we do. It's an interesting civics lesson in how something really stupid can happen."
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