Chicago Says, "MERRY XXXXXMAS"

If you haven't already heard, Chicago City Hall has urged the city's annual "Christkindlmarket" to drop the movie, "The Nativity Story," from its list of paid sponsors.

John Kass at the Chicago Tribune explains:

Christkindlmarket literally means "Christ child market" in German. The sponsors included the producers of "The Nativity Story," a film about the birth of Christ. The market wanted to run ads about the movie at the festival that commemorates Christmas.

But City Hall determined such ads would offend.

Apparently the other sponsors, including Bischoff's Imported & Domestic German Beer, are more in keeping with the spirit of the Christmas Season in Chicago these days.

In any case, the event's organizers, the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest, caved in to the pressure and returned the $12,000 sponsor's fee they had received from New Line Cinema, the producers of the film.

So, it is now safe to say that no one attending the annual Christ-child Market in Chicago this year will have to fear being offended by accidentally viewing a video ad for a movie depicting . . . well . . . depicting the birth of the Christ child.

Now, of course, instead of "Christmas" . . . it's just a "mess."