What could possibly have caused MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski to completely lose her composure and flee the set in hysterics?
On Monday’s “Morning Joe” Brezinski was reporting the details of a chlorine gas leak at a “furry” convention in Illinois, where convention-goers were forced to evacuate. After reading the words “furry convention” Mika seemed to falter over the unfamiliar words, and asked “Did I get that wrong?”
Semi-sheltered Mika could well have gone her entire life without knowing anything about furries, but her helpful co-hosts explained that a furry convention is a formal gathering of people dressed up as non-human characters. When the images of people in stuffed animal costumes appeared on screen, both Joe and Mika had to look away, but soon Brzezinski lost it, and began laughing uncontrollably, holding her head in her hands.
No one even told her that some furry get-togethers involve costumed and reportedly anonymous sex – not completely unlike some New York cocktail parties that Mika and Joe might consider the norm, but which could amuse the furries in a similar fashion.
Mika who routinely maintains her stoic composure daily while Joe rants and raves, leaped from her chair and is seen running off set, while Joe vainly calls her back. Innocence lost can never be regained. Likewise Mika Brezezinski can never again be unaware of that unusual – but perhaps alluring subculture?
Despite viewer’s delighted reaction to Mika’s unprecedented departure, the news story is no laughing matter. Someone set out to harm the furries at the convention held at the Hyatt Hotel in Chicago. Nineteen were sent to the hospital for nausea and dizziness. The source of the chlorine gas was found in a stairwell on the ninth floor of the Hyatt. The manner by which the powdered chlorine was released “suggests an intentional act’, according to Rosemont police. It is being investigated as a criminal matter. Fortunately, the furries were well dressed for the chilly weather outside, even if onlookers weren’t prepared for a glimpse into the fantasy land of the furries. .