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Who in the World Is Honey BooBoo?
Until recently I was clueless, and happily so. by Loyd McIntosh
“Who in the world is Honey Boo Boo?” While that might not be verbatim, that is a pretty accurate response when I first about this now infamous—ahem—reality show on the TLC network. In case you’ve been living under the proverbial rock along with Yours Truly, let me bring you up to speed. Here Comes Honey Boo Boo is a reality show focusing on a family from the rural community of McIntyre, Georgia. The “stars” include Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson, a child beauty pageant participant and her mother, June Shannon. The show features Honey Boo Boo ruling the roost with a sassy mouth, a clueless mother who exacerbates it, all wrapped up in every Southern, rural, uneducated cliché you can think of—at least that’s what I gathered during the two minutes of an episode I watched one evening over the summer. Until recently, I was as clueless as anyone. And happily so. Heck, I’m a guy, and a regular one at that. I drive a pick ‘em up truck, eat way too much fried food, like to watch college football, smoke a cigar on occasion and vote straight Republican. A reality show to me either a) ends with a recap of the final score or b) features people from various political stripes hollering at each other. Watching a show about a spoiled brat beauty pageant
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kid and her uneducated, redneck mother holds about as much interest to me as plunging a toilet in a Taco Bell. It’s to be avoided all costs because you know darn well that it’s going to stink. It’s been difficult to dodge the chatter about this show on Facebook, on the cover of the tabloids at the grocery store checkout, or even among some friends and coworkers. I was enjoying my ignorance until word starting spreading that Honey Boo Boo was coming to town—my adopted hometown of Pell City, to be more specific. It was announced that Honey Boo Boo, Mama, and the whole clan were going to be making a special appearance during a Global Championship Wrestling (GCW) event at the Pell City Civic Center in mid-September. The eye of this bizarre pop culture hurricane was going to slam into town just two miles away from my home. As you could imagine, opinion on this news was mixed. Within minutes of the announcement, of course, my friends and neighbors took to Facebook to voice their feelings. “Certainly this must be a sign of the apocalypse,” posted one friend. “Honey Boo Boo and professional wrestling in the same place? Heck yeah, I’m going,” posted another. My initial reaction was to avoid this thing like grim death, but the reporter and writer in me finally won over and I decided I had to see for myself what this was all about. Why would our town embrace such a thing? I moved to Pell City twelve years ago after getting married and I’ve come to love this community for a variety of reasons. We’re a generous town. For instance, our church routinely outgives churches twice our size in far wealthier communities closer to Birmingham.
During my dozen years here I’ve learned a lot more about the character of Pell City. This community is incredibly friendly, hard working, and extremely tolerant—if that’s the right word. What I mean is this: Pell City is a community where socioeconomic lines are much blurrier than other communities. All of this was on my mind as I, somehow, found a parking spot and wormed my way into the building for the event and took in the scene. Hundreds of people, many of them young girls wearing their beauty pageant tiaras, waited in line to have Honey Boo Boo sign their posters, books and other items. I saw a few people I knew from church and around town, but the majority appeared to have commuted in for the occasion. I look to the right and see, sitting behind a table, the matriarch of the family and Honey Boo Boo herself sitting, barefoot, on the table, signing her name as people pass through for 30 second conversation before being herded out one of two doors, either going back to the parking lot or into the gym where the ring is set up. Several hundred people are sitting in bleachers and folding chairs waiting for the wrestling to begin. I chatted with a few people in between bouts for the next hour or so and discovered three types of people who came to Pell City on this night. There were fans of Honey Boo Boo who had no interest at all in professional wrestling, fans of professional wrestling who had no interest at all in Honey Boo Boo, and those too curious to stay away. Still, I struggled with the question, why Pell City? Then it dawned on me. Why the heck not Pell City. Why wouldn’t the friendliest and most tolerant community I’ve ever had the pleasure of calling home welcome such craziness with open arms? Despite hanging out in the pop culture slum for a night, the sun still came up then next morning, church pews were full, and friends from all backgrounds waved to each other from the front seats of their pick-up trucks. That’s just who we are.
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