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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
Christmas festival organizers in Missouri aren’t dancing around a situation involving a potty-mouthed Sugar Plum Fairy.
Laura Coppinger, 29, was fired from her recurring role as the popular Sugar Plum Fairy character in the St. Charles, Mo., Christmas Traditions Festival after she swore during a drug test mandated for all city employees.
While collecting a urine sample, Ms. Coppinger accidentally invalidated the test by flushing the toilet. When she realized her mistake, she uttered the four-letter word that would cost her the role of a character she had perfected throughout the past five years.
“Out of frustration with myself, I said a curse word,” Ms. Coppinger said in an interview with KSDK NewsChannel 5 in St. Louis.
After the drug testing facility reported the incident, Ms. Coppinger was informed by the city that she would not be rehired because she had broken a section of the festival's code of conduct titled “Christmas Characters Don’t Know Naughty Words.”
Though Ms. Coppinger has apologized publicly for the incident, St. Charles city officials say she will not return to spread Christmas cheer at this year’s festival.
“Given her excessively inappropriate behavior and language at the drug testing facility and actions following this process, the city made the right decision in not rehiring this former cast member,” St. Charles Mayor Sally Faith said in a public statement on the matter.
To demonstrate that not everyone in St. Charles has forgotten the spirit of the season, two local merchants, Grandma’s Cookies and Riverside Sweets, have offered Ms. Coppinger temporary holiday employment.
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