Florida Holiday Boat Parade Draws Heat for Profane Political Flags: ‘F*ck Joe Biden’

Some boat owners in Florida may have landed on Santa’s naughty list year – depending on Kris Kringle’s political leanings.

Florida Today reported on Friday that numerous complaints have been made and arguments had over last week’s annual holiday boat parade in Cocoa Beach, Florida. During the procession, some boats flew flags that were profanely critical of President Joe Biden.

One boat had a flag reading “FJB,” presumably an abbreviation for “Fuck Joe Biden.” Another flag said, “F*ck Joe Biden,” with a middle finger standing in for the “u.” Yet another flag read, “Let’s go Brandon,” a euphemism for “Fuck Joe Biden.”

“Political messaging has no place in a Christmas parade,” said Cocoa Beach Mayor Ben Malik. “We have enough to fight amongst each other about. We don’t need to ruin Christmas over it.”

Malik said boaters are welcome to fly flags of their choosing on the waterways, but they should not be allowed to do so as part of a private event whose organizers wish to eschew such messaging.

“If somebody wants to fly their boat flag down the canal with whatever they want on the back of it, have at it,” he said. “But if it’s a private civic organization that’s doing a parade, they can certainly have rules and regulations in place that would prohibit any type of offensive or political messaging restrictions that they want.”

The parade was sponsored by the Cocoa Beach Rotary Club, which has stated it will try to avoid a repeat of the political messages at future events. In an open, Cocoa Beach Rotary Club President Marcin Kubiak wrote, “We are deeply saddened, disappointed and disgusted this took place.”

He added, “We are meeting internally to evaluate best approaches to help similar situations from occurring in the future. Cocoa Beach Rotary Club is an apolitical association and our goal is only to make positive impact in our community and beyond.”