This morning the video mentioned in this Metro piece was up on YouTube. Now it's missing and all that's left is a message reading it "has been removed by the user." The video was posted by Coney Island developer Thor Equities’ and portrayed a clearly scripted and favorably edited scene from the Mermaid Parade.

The clip, which opens and closes with the Mermaid Parade logo, features costumed revelers professing their love of Coney Island and the parade. Then, in the last few seconds, a woman wearing a Viking helmet slips in: “The spirit of Thor matches that of Coney Island!”

The Thor cheerleader was Digna Rodriguez, not surprisingly a Thor Equities employee. Also not surprising is that missing from the video were the Thor protesters. Their video isn't missing from YouTube, however, so it will replace the previously planned one:

As for why the Thor video was taken down...Metro reports the developers received a letter from Dick Zigun of Coney Island USA “informing them that they have NO PERMISSION to use the name or logo MERMAID PARADE within their FUTURE OF CONEY ISLAND logo such as they have done at the start and finish of the YOU TUBE piece."