Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade: Fans Think Hoda Kotb’s ‘Dragon Ball Z’ Laughter Fit Was Reportedly NSFW

One of the viral moments from Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade might be all thanks to an NSFW […]

December 1, 2019, 10:34pm

One of the viral moments from Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade might be all thanks to an NSFW thought that danced through Today Show co-host Hoda Kotb‘s mind. During the broadcast, she broke down into laughter while talking about Dragon Ball character Goku as the balloon made its way through Manhattan. Kotb broke into laughter just as she read the title of the upcoming video game, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot.

Kotb mispronounced “Kakarot,” and then broke out into hysterics, notes ComicBook.com alluding to a supposed bad word. Fans instantly thought her laughter might have to do with the way she pronounced the word, which she probably was not expecting to see as she caught parade viewers up on the latest news in the Dragon Ball world.

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Next year, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot will be released to help celebrate the 30th anniversary.

Here’s the Goku balloon! Hoda kinda looses it after she says “Kakarot”. pic.twitter.com/0dIQWpG1fu
— Tanooki Joe (@TanookiKuribo) November 28, 2019

Thankfully for Kotb, fans at home embraced her laughter. After all, Kotb is hardly familiar with the inner workings of the Japanese anime franchise. Some even suggested her laughter was the best part of the parade.

She even got it mostly correct in the Japanese sense, since it would be pronounced Kah Kah at the beginning. And it is a funny name.

The simplest naming method of your character into Carrot will never not be funny.
— Elliot Xylou Omega (@ElliotOmega) November 30, 2019

“Hoda trying, failing, and laughing her way through pronouncing Dragon Ball Super: Kakarot at the parade this year just singlehandedly saved my Thanksgiving,” one fan wrote.

The irony is that pronunciation is actually more correct than what we are used to.
— Level Drain Chubbubus (@DrainLevel) November 29, 2019

“Also loved Hoda giggling trying to say kakarot,” another chimed in.

I feel like non-anime people look at anime the way I look at sports. Just random names and words that don’t mean anything.
— 🐺a.mike (@AladdInThought) November 28, 2019

Some serious fans were not very enthused with Kotb though.

“Am I the only one who was pissed when Hoda mispronounced Kakarot during Goku’s balloon? Not only that, but that unprofessional ‘journalist’ laughed so hard she almost couldn’t finish the description. I cringed so, so hard,” one fan wrote.

“Doesnt shock me mainstream news media thinks Anime is a joke. You expect them to actually understand it? [Laughing out loud],” another chimed in.

NBC’s broadcast was also criticized by some viewers who enjoy seeing unplanned incidents. Thanks to the wind, a gash in the Ronald McDonald balloon opened wider, leaving one of its legs deflated. The balloon was guided down a sidestreet, away from the main parade route. Rather than show the deflated balloon, NBC inserted a shot from a previous parade, which viewers still noticed.

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot will be released on Jan. 17 for Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC.

Photo credit: Noam Galai/Getty Images