Iconic “One Piece” character Monkey D. Luffy was feeling a little deflated during his debut Thursday morning at the 97th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
While making his way down New York City’s parade route, the brim of the Straw Hat Pirates captain’s hat was punctured after the balloon bumped into a tree.
Within the span of an hour-and-a-half, the straw hat was completely deflated, helping Luffy debut what looked more like a bucket hat.
The hiccup prompted both fans of the manga, anime and live-action Netflix series to share their shock on X (formerly Twitter) — and even Netflix itself got in on the low-helium fun.
“If Luffy goes out like Barney, they’ll never hear the end of it from ‘One Piece’ Twitter,” one user wrote, comparing it to the infamous 1997 Barney balloon incident.
Luckily, the Luffy balloon was able to finish the route in one piece.
The future pirate king, which was one of seven new additions to Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, was not the only one to have deflation issues during the festivities.
Other balloons that ran into snags included Snoopy, whose own hat deflated; a mallard duck named Uncle Dan from the upcoming Illumination film “Migration,” which had a deflated wing; “Diary of a Wimp Kid” character Greg Heffley, who had a deflated hand; and an inflatable Geoffrey the Giraffe of Toys R Us fame, which appeared to have a limp neck.
“No disrespect to Snoopy, but he seems like he’s skimming the street a little bit. I don’t know what the problem is here,” Bravo’s Andy Cohen said in an Instagram Story posted Thursday. “He needs to take wind a little bit. He’s a little droopy.”
“The wimpy kid has a wimpy hand here,” he added in another Instgram Story video. “Little deflated. We’re a little worried about this. We don’t know what’s happening to these balloons.”
In addition to Cohen, the parade, which was broadcast on NBC and simulcast on Peacock, featured Jimmy Fallon and the Roots, Lacey Chabert, Leslie Odom Jr., Abigail Spencer and “Good Burger” stars Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell.
It also had appearances from a few prominent athletes — beach volleyball players and Paris 2024 Olympic hopefuls Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes, as well as Paralympic hopeful in track and field star Ezra Frech.
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