Police Department Apologizes For Viral ‘Elsa Got Arrested’ Post
An Illinois police department had a post go viral this week in which they depicted Queen Elsa, from the Disney film Frozen, being arrested for her part in the polar vortex that has led to subzero temperatures around the country.
As the Inquisitr and some others pointed out, the two photos used in the McLean Police Department post had actually been used in a similar joke post four years earlier in South Carolina. But the McLean post did not credit or acknowledge such in the photos, nor did most of the numerous media outlets who picked up the story.
Later on Wednesday, the McLean police acknowledged this, in another Facebook post.
“The pictures were actually taken by Hanahan Police Department in South Carolina that we found on the internet,” the post said.
“We were looking for pictures to show how cold it was getting and wanted to do something to rise up everyone’s spirit…we cant take credit for the pictures…sorry about the confusion.”
The second post by the police department isn’t precisely correct. Sakalas Photography, a photography firm in South Carolina, actually took the photos in the 2015 shoot, with an assist from Glass Slipper Productions, an area company that supplies costumed characters for children’s birthday parties and other such events.
The Hanahan Police Department participated in the shoot but did not stage it themselves. The Elsa in the photos is an actress named Courtney Fazley, while the photographer was Tammy Sakalas, per a source who organized the shoot.
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Another police department in Harlan City, Kentucky, had joked on social media about arresting Queen Elsa in retaliation for cold weather but did not post any visual elements. They inspired the South Carolina photo shoot the same year.
In the comments to the McLean Facebook post, there were many “Let It Go” jokes, as well as several people upset that the police department even needed to apologize in the first place.
This is beautiful. God bless police officers and other first responders in this cold. (Photo from McLean, IL PD) https://t.co/RZ1t0ph00Z pic.twitter.com/cbXp0VhkDj
— Lynde Langdon (@lmlangdon) January 30, 2019
Frozen, a megahit Disney animated musical that was released in 2013, told the story of a pair of royal sisters, one of whom, Elsa, had the ability to freeze things with her hands. In addition to numerous Halloween costumes, the popularity of the film has led to lots of jokes about Queen Elsa during any instances of ice in the weather forecast in the time since. A stage adaptation is now playing on Broadway, while a sequel, Frozen 2, is set for release this November.
