October 14, 1977: Anita Bryant Gets "Canceled" With a Pie

October 14, 1977: Gay activist Thom Higgins responds to singer Anita Bryant's anti-gay legislative campaign by hitting her in the face with a pie during a press conference in Des Moines, Iowa. At first, she maintained her composure, and joked, using a slur on gay men, "At least it's a fruit pie." She soon broke down in tears.

Gay people had run a boycott of her most famous endorsement, of Florida orange juice. The growers soon realized they were losing money, and dropped her as a spokesperson. Jokes about her had become part of Johnny Carson's monologue on The Tonight Show and questions on Match Game.

Bryant as a young singer. I tried to find

a recent picture of her, but came up empty.

Although she had peaked as a decidedly non-rock singer in the early 1960s, she was still fairly popular until her "Save Our Children" campaign. But after this, her career was ruined. Her marriage soon broke up. Eventually, the only town where she could get hired was Branson, Missouri, the place known as "the Redneck Vegas." She is still alive, age 82, an early victim of "cancel culture." Higgins died in 1994, from complications of AIDS.

(UPDATE: Anita Bryant died on December 16, 2024, at the age of 84. It had been 3 years since her granddaughter had come out as gay and announced she was marrying a woman.)

Also on this day, Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby dies at age 74, of a heart attack following a round of golf at a country club in Alcobendas, Spain, a suburb of Madrid. How good a golfer the legendary singer and actor known as "Der Bingle" was is open to debate, but he did sponsor the Bing Crosby Open tournament.

Golf isn't a real sport? I agree. Okay, then: From 1946 until his death, he was a part-owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates, while his frequent movie costar and golfing buddy Bob Hope was a part-owner of the next-closest big-league team, the Cleveland Indians. Fortunately for them, the 2 teams are in different leagues, so the nasty Pittsburgh-Cleveland football rivalry did not spill over into baseball. (In fact, 2013 marked the 1st time both the Pirates and the Indians ever made the postseason in the same year.)

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October 14, 1977 was a Friday. The New York Yankees won Game 3 of the World Series, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Mike Torrez went the distance for the win, and Mickey Rivers collected 3 hits, 2 of them doubles.

Football was in midweek. The NBA season began 4 days later. There were 2 NHL games. The New York Islanders and the Los Angeles Kings played to a tie, 0-0 at the Nassau Coliseum. And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Detroit Red Wings, 3-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

And there were 2 games in the World Hockey Association. The Quebec Nordiques beat the Cincinnati Stingers, 5-1 at the Colisée de Québec. And the New England Whalers and the Indianapolis Racers played to a 2-2 tie at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.