The online petition to have Nickelback booted from the halftime bill of the Thanksgiving Day game between the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers has garnered more than 55,000 signatures. That’s enough, at least in political circumstances, to guarantee a reply from the White House.
Having recently inspired Nickelblock, a Web plugin that prevents the band’s name from showing up in your browser, the Canadian hard-rock band has responded to the uproar. The band released a surprisingly entertaining spoof for Funny or Die, a comedy-video website, that culminates with the members dressed as Alice Cooper, Tom Selleck, Dave Coulier, and RoboCop.
Advertised in the lower corner of the video is the hashtag #Nickelback2Detroit. That’s a telling swipe at R&B singer Mayer Hawthorne, who’s been campaigning to replace the group for more than two weeks with the Twitter hashtag #Mayer4Detroit.
In fact, Hawthorne—a glorified wedding singer with Stones Throw cred—announced yesterday that he’ll provide alternate halftime entertainment from his parents’ house in Detroit. The performance, featuring only musicians from the area, will be livestreamed on RollingStone.com.
But who won the tale of the Twitter?
According to statistics from Topsy, a social media search engine, #Mayer4Detroit has been mentioned 168 times in the last 30 days, but only 12 times in the last week. In the other corner, #Nickelback2Detroit has been tweeted less than 50 times.
With such underwhelming stats it’s hard to declare a winner, but the loser is obvious: football fans who appreciate good music.
