Dayton Air Show, a well-known airplane exhibition in Ohio, has pulled a re-enactment of the World War II atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima from its event lineup at the Dayton International Airport, following protests on Thursday.
Spokesperson Brenda Kerfoot told the Associated Press that event coordinators plan on keeping the scheduled "Great Wall of Fire" pyrotechnic show, but not as a re-enactment of the bombings in Japan.
She said they meant to illustrate an important historical event that catalyzed the end of the Second World War, not create issues within the community.
Given the nation's sensitivity towards bombing due to recent bombings at the Boston Marathon and explosions in Texas, they have decided it would be best to eschew the word "bomb" entirely.
"We've taken it as more of an educational show," Kerfoot said in a recent interview. "The wording that we used probably wasn't the best."
Critics of the show began dashing the show as inappropriate for family attendance-a huge target audience for the event.
They decided to separate the B-29 plane "Fifi," a model akin to the Enola Gay B-29 bomber used in the Hiroshima bombings, from the reenactment.
"We didn't want it to become a distraction to the overall quality of the show," she said.
Art curator Gabriela Pickett reportedly began a petition online, in objection of the "glamorization of destruction."
Almost 200 people have signed said petition in 24 hours, she told the AP, in addition to a few emails she received from Japanese-Americans who were upset with the decision to recreate such a devastating event.
"We are a city of peace," Pickett said.
Former President of the Asian American Council Ron Katsuyama, also a Japanese-American, echoed Pickett's sentiments.
"By having shows like that, it is not only in bad taste, but I think it sustains misinformation," he said.
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