Norm Clarke Mentions Criss Angel in End of Year Vegas Article

[Richard Kaufman]

Cirque du Soleil has issued an apology after a gay slur was unfurled during a trick by Luxor headliner Criss Angel. Cirque sent the statement to local blogger Richard Abowitz, who revealed the incident Wednesday on his new Web site, GoldPlatedDoor.com. He sought a response after a source told him the word "faggot" was displayed to the audience. Cirque stated the incident occurred Dec. 10 when "an inappropriate word was selected by an audience member as part of the premonition illusion." It was made clear to the audience, Cirque said, "that the word is not one that is used or condoned by Criss Angel or any of the artists in the show, and the emphasis on the word was deflected during the illusion. Audience members are typically not pre-briefed as to the words they can use." Abowitz said Cirque stated Angel did not say the word from the stage and suggested the audience member was British and meant cigarettes.

Was printed here:
http://www.lvrj.com/news/a-decade-of-fe ... 03232.html

What the piece doesn't make clear is who the word was aimed at. It would seem to make sense that the audience member was directing it toward the performer--that takes balls.

And if you want to read the original post, which is much more extensive than Norm's brief paragaph, look here:
http://www.goldplateddoor.com/

[Mark.Lewis]

"Faggot" is not a British word or colloqualism. "Fag" means cigarette, but not "faggot". If the word used was "faggot" then the other meaning was intended.

[Jager]

A faggot is a bundle of sticks or twigs.

[Pete McCabe]

Indeed, in the canonical Charles Perrault version of "Little Red Riding Hood," the reason the wolf does not eat Red immediately when she first talks to him is because of some faggot-makers nearby. The woodsman who comes in and saves the day in the revised Brothers Grimm version is likewise a faggot maker. The dad who tries to lose Hansel and Gretel in the woodsso they will starve to death, leaving more food for Dad and Momwas also a faggot-maker.

Basically any woodsman, that is, someone whose job was to take an axe into the forest and come back with firewood, was a faggot-maker.

[Bill Duncan]

So basically, unskilled labor...

[Pete McCabe]

Well, it was a pretty valuable skill back in 1697 when Perrault wrote Ma Mere L'Oye.

[John Signa]

For South Park's take on the word, The F Word (Season 13)
Or the non-streamed HD version from iTunes