Trees: Celebs Rumors

The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree has been carefully selected and is due to make its way to the Big Apple next week for a lighting ceremony hosted by Kelly Clarkson on Wednesday, Nov. 29.This year’s sappy specimen — a Norway spruce 80-feet tall and 43 feet in diameter that was donated by the McGinley family in the Binghamton region — hails from the town of Vestal, New York, about 190 miles northwest of NYC.Currently casting a shadow over a residential driveway basketball hoop, the tree is to be cut down Nov. 9 and arrive at the Rock two days later, on the morning of Veteran’s Day.

Chris Stephens took to Twitter on Monday to express his disappointment over the studio’s decision to prune the plants in the middle of their demonstration.“Quick shoutout to the good people at @UniversalPics for trimming the trees that gave our picket line shade right before a 90+ degree week,” Stephens sarcastically penned.Alongside the tweet, the entertainer shared a photo of the trees looking bare and leaf-less.The ongoing writer’s strike began on May 2 and workers were joined by the actors’ union SAG–AFTRA on July 14.The viral post garnered angry — but also some hilarious — responses from his followers regarding Universal’s act of arboreal aggression.“That’s so shady,” one quipped.Quick shoutout to the good people at @UniversalPics for trimming the trees that gave our picket line shade right before a 90+ degree week. pic.twitter.com/aZvvPYQ23i“Whoever ‘trimmed’ those trees may have just killed a bunch of trees on city property, that weren’t theirs to trim.