King Kong Debuts in New York; City Renamed "the Big Banana"

NEW YORK CITY, NY -- (CNN -- Celluloid News Network) -- As part of the advertising campaign for the upcoming film "King Kong," New York City has voluntarily changed its name from "the Big Apple" to "the Big Banana."

In a phone interview, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg said that the name change is the next logical step. "I recently designated a day as 'King Kong Day' in the city, after all. There's an 8-meter-tall Kong replica in Times Square. The stars of the film are in town for various events and the press is going...well, bananas. Furthermore, the biggest star, King Kong himself, is happy with the name change. To be honest, he is literally the 800-pound gorilla in the room, and he gets to do and have pretty much whatever he wants."

But the new title of "the Big Banana" has some New Yorkers going ape. Various New York traditionalists are protesting the name change. They insist that New York identity is historically linked to the name "the Big Apple." All the same, Kong may have proven himself a New Yorker at heart; when the protesters rallied in front of his replica in Times Square, the giant ape replied by giving them a Bronx cheer.