Thanksgiving may still be a pretty alien concept to most of us over here on Brexit island, but our friends across the pond ushered in the annual festivities yesterday (November 22) with their usual mix of charm, humility and hunger for turkey.
The fourth Thursday of November is a nice day off for the majority of Americans – including the many, many famous faces from the US who we’ve come to know and love – to spend with their loved ones. And, thanks to the inescapable reach of social media, nowadays you can’t miss taking a peek at the various ways in which your favourite musician, actor or celebrity is revelling in the so-called “holiday spirit”.
Here’s a choice selection of what some of our favourites stars from the US of A got up to for Thanksgiving this year.
Snoop Dogg was, of course, thankful
It looks like the ever-humble Snoop is keeping his feet firmly on the ground even after receiving his own star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame last week, as he shared a picture of the Broadus family all gathered together for Thanksgiving.
The National saved a turkey with Bob’s Burgers
The National and Bob’s Burgers collaborating in late November is now almost as much of a Thanksgiving tradition as the annual Macy’s Parade in New York City (more on that shortly). The band’s fourth Thanksgiving-themed track ‘Save The Bird’ got the animated treatment from the makers of the cult sitcom, with Matt Berninger and co. popping up in the accompanying animated short to, yes, save a turkey from becoming someone’s dinner. Good guys.
Madonna and her family sat around the piano
There’s nothing quite like a good sing-song on Thanksgiving, right? Especially when it’s a clunky rendition of that hallowed Thanksgiving classic, er, ‘We Are The Champions’. Clearly inspired by the recent Queen biopic, Madonna and her fam kicked back yesterday with a bit of piano time.
Rita Ora fluffed her lines at the big Macy’s Parade
Yikes Rita Ora caught lip synching at #MacysParade pic.twitter.com/nkd4w9VKRM
— Ryan Schocket (@RyanSchocket) November 22, 2018
Rita Ora’s debut appearance at the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade didn’t entirely go to plan as she was caught on camera missing her vocal cue – making it there seem that she was, apparently, lip-syncing.
Ora’s fellow Parade performer John Legend came to her defence though, revealing that Macy’s asked all of yesterday’s performers to lip-sync along to a backing track this year because the floats “don’t have the capacity to handle the sound requirements for a live performance.”
Fun fact @johnlegend thank you for clarifying what I was about to also tweet. It’s annoying for us but anyway! All my shows are 100 percent live always have been! When you come to a ORA show get ready! Back to holidays! Have a good one guys! 🙂 X https://t.co/pO5hnnQgvg
— Rita Ora ? (@RitaOra) November 22, 2018
Steve Carell did The Scarn
https://twitter.com/SteveCarell/status/1065801933393416192
Well, Washington Redskins receiver Trey Quinn did, anyway. The Scarn originates from the Carell-starring US version of The Office, and Quinn channelled his inner Michael Scott after scoring a touchdown in yesterday’s loss to the Denver Cowboys. Carell later took time out from his turkey dinner to register his approval of the celebration on Twitter.
Will Smith beat-boxed
The shy and retiring Will Smith spent his Thanksgiving this year in quiet, sombre reflection as he mused on the true meaning of the harvest festival. No, of course he didn’t: he instead recorded a freestyle with his daughter Willow and put it on Instagram. All a bit of fun, isn’t it?
Pharrell and Kevin Hart fed the homeless in LA
The benevolent spirit of Thanksgiving flowed through Kevin Hart, Pharrell and many more celebrities yesterday as they pitched in to help feed the homeless at the Los Angeles Mission. Food and care packages were laid on during the annual charity drive – good on ’em.
Dwayne Johnson hung out with a horse in London
He may be away from the homeland filming in merry ol’ England at the minute, but don’t go thinking that Dwayne Johnson wouldn’t celebrate Thanksgiving without an Instagram post of him… riding a horse in London? The Rock later told his followers that this year was the first time he’d ever spent Thanksgiving away from home – although that didn’t stop him from cooking a gigantic turkey for his nearest and dearest.
Anderson .Paak
Fresh from celebrating the release of his latest album ‘Oxnard’ by stopping traffic in LA to dance on the top of his car, the multi-talented Anderson spent some quality time with his equally-smiley young family yesterday as he wished “peace to the natives”.
And finally…
2016, 2017…… 2018 ❤️ pic.twitter.com/0ZNA54uGAS
— Jamal Hinton (@kingjamal08) November 23, 2018
Phoenix, Arizona grandmother Wanda Dench invited Jamal Hinton to her house to spend a third consecutive Thanksgiving together after she mistakenly added him to a group chat back in 2016 while making holiday plans with her grandchildren. The wholesome tale quickly went viral two years ago after Dench invited Hinton over to her home anyway, even after establishing that she’d contacted him by mistake – and their heartwarming tradition lives on today.