Siegfried & Roy get one last bite of stardom
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So Siegfried & Roy, the shiny-suited, tiger-cuddling ’80’s throwbacks, have returned for one final stage act at their spiritual home, Las Vegas. Don’t all cheer at once, now.
Although, to be fair, the perma-tanned duo probably needed one last gig. After all, the last time we saw the pair performing under the Las Vegas lights in 2003, Roy Horn was dragged rather unceremoniously off stage in the teeth of one of the pair’s trademark white tigers (the feline equivalent of a hooked cane pulling the unfortunate act off stage). And many thought that that was that.
Well fortunately, for Roy at least, it wasn’t. He recovered (later claiming that the tiger was simply ‘moving him out of danger’, which goes to show how unwise it is to trust a tiger), and when the curtain fell on their comeback gig on 28 February, the pair were given a standing ovation by the Las Vegas crowd.
For those of you unaware of Siegfried & Roy’s work, they are illusionists who manage to shoehorn the use of tigers into their act. They also manage to incorporate the styling of 1980’s pop act, more sequins than a Romanian gymnastics team, and a complete lack of irony.
While there is no doubt that Siegfried & Roy genuinely care for the animals’ welfare (they have even started a tiger breeding programme), surely the days of performing with animals must soon be at an end. Such acts are now becoming, quite rightly, socially unacceptable, and while they live on in many countries, America must surely set an example to the world by banning them.
So well done Siegfried & Roy; glad to see you alive and well. But please, for the sake of wild animals and quality entertainment across the world, let’s consign this double-act to history. I’m sure they’d be happy to be back in 1980s anyway - at least their haircuts would be back in fashion.
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