Anita Bryant, Pop Singer, Florida Oranges Pitchwoman and Anti-Gay Rights Crusader, Dies at 84

[tenderfoot]

No great loss.

Anita Bryant, a former beauty queen and pop singer of the 1960s whose career led her to become a spokesperson for Florida oranges in the early ’70s and an evangelical crusader against gay rights later in that decade, died Dec. 16 at age 84, her family announced Thursday.

The family’s obituary for Anita Bryant Day, as she was known outside the public sphere, was published in her hometown newspaper, the Oklahoman, and said the singer-activist died at home last month in Edmond, Oklahoma, surrounded by family and friends.

During her heyday as a public figure, Bryant was one of the most polarizing celebrities in America, vilified by much of the show business community for campaigning against what she viewed as a gay takeover of American culture, while being embraced as a hero by many religious conservatives.

Prior to her taking those stands, she was best known for her appearances in commercials for Florida oranges that introduced the catchphrase “Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine” (and many parodies of that statement) into the popular lexicon. Those advertisements eclipsed her long-dormant career as a pop singer, even as she made the move into recording gospel music after easy-listening sounds fell out of fashion in the rock era.

https://variety.com/2025/music/obituaries-people-news/anita-bryant-dead-pop-singer-anti-gay-oranges-1236271244/

[The Blue Flower]

1. It's a start

Happy to read her obit.

[PJMcK]

2. About time (n/t)

[Haggard Celine]

3. It's hard not to hate people like her.

It's too hard for me to overcome.

[Liberal In Texas]

4. I didn't know she was still alive.

Bye bye.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

8. me either. I would have assumed she's like a 100 years old

[LeftInTX]

13. She looked older than she was. She had hair like my mom.

[Rebl2]

50. Same here

[rasputin1952]

56. I thought she died years ago.

[Basso8vb]

5. I hope her demise was long and painful.

Scum of the earth.

[Oopsie Daisy]

6. Good riddance!

[2naSalit]

7. Thought she was already dead.

More clean air for some of us!

I figured she'd be about 99 by now.

[drmeow]

19. She was, inside! nt

[Sky Jewels]

22. Same!

Oh well.

Girl, bye.

[rpannier]

27. I thought she was already dead as well

I remember her from the late 70s
I hated her "crusade" back then
Shame she lived that long

[2naSalit]

47. Just goes to show...

How evil she was, they seem to live the longest most of the time. Jimmy Carter would be an exception.

[SocialDemocrat61]

9. Say hi to Adolph and Saddam for me

[rpannier]

29. Don't forget Franco and Pinochet

And Fujimora

[Oopsie Daisy]

10. I wanna put on my Boogie Shoes!

[greatauntoftriplets]

11. Bye!

You won't be missed.

[House of Roberts]

12. Burn in hell, lady of intolerance.

Say hello to Jerry Foulsmell when you get there. You'll certainly be assigned to his wing of Hades.

[Oopsie Daisy]

14. She and Pat Robertson can share the same catacomb ...

[BidenRocks]

38. Save a spot for....

Pat Boone!

[DJ Synikus Makisimus]

15. Too bad it took so long. (n/t)

[BigDemVoter]

16. What a sack of SHIT.

[303squadron]

17. Now that Facebook is no longer fact checking

Maybe someone should put out a Facebook post on the cause of death. I can think of one……

[intheflow]

21. Died by being

squirted by the jizz of 100 gay men?

[Cha]

18. It was None of her GD business!

[mnmoderatedem]

20. here's an audio version

happened in my home town of Des Moines

[Sky Jewels]

23. A day without Anita Bryant is like a day with sunshine.

What an evil, wretched woman.

[LeftInTX]

63. Can you believe she was only 32 here?

She looks like a 50's housewife. Her hair, dress and make up....

[Sky Jewels]

67. I know!

That matronly hairdo and clothing put 20 years on her!

[KS Toronado]

73. bye bye

[GP6971]

74. So what? Your delicious DU pizza

is on the way. For your records, your reference number is 250110023.

[William769]

24. This makes me very happy.

[royable]

25. A saying I've said for many years:

“A morning with orange juice is like a day without Anita Bryant,”

[Aristus]

26. These things tend to happen in threes.

Please let Trump be next…

About damned time she kicked it. Hate seems to be an effective preservative.

[Skittles]

28. she prompted me to ally with gay folk

when she was preaching her vile stuff I specifically remember thinking, gay folk don't bother me but SHE sure does - just a hateful woman

[marmar]

30. I didn't realize she was still alive.

[Dem2theMax]

31. My thoughts, in smileys.

[BigmanPigman]

32. Ding Dong the wicked bitch is dead........

?si=9Ltzq0gpX_xFKjM9

[MustLoveBeagles]

33. Huh

I thought she was long gone

[Chipper Chat]

34. She recorded the hit version of "Till There Was You" from The Music Man in the 60s.

Then in the 80s she became an antigay spokesperson. I hated her for that.

[johnnyfins]

53. Beatles version WAY better

[Chipper Chat]

62. Oh, no question.

I just meant it was the big hit in 57-60 when I was a teenager.(I still have the 45).
Nice voice too. Too bad she later became such a B****.

[Botany]

35. Is she still dead?

If God/Jesus hates the gays so much then why is he allowing more and more to
be born?

[Bird Lady]

36. Not to be mean I thought she has been dead a long time

"I hope Anita Bryant never does one of my songs." Jimmy Buffet

[Deep State Witch]

37. I've got a nice pie for her.

[BidenRocks]

39. ONLY 84?!!

Dayum. Evil does live forever.
I remember her OJ commercials from the early 60s.
I also thought she kicked long ago.

[Blue_Tires]

40. Who?

[COL Mustard]

41. As Jimmy Buffett once said,

"I hope Anita Bryant never, ever does one of my songs".

[IA8IT]

54. My first thought

[Gore1FL]

42. I remeber the OJ commercials. It's not just for breakfast, anymore.

Didn't her sone come out during her anti-gay crusade, or was that an urban legend?

[Think. Again.]

43. That's nice.

[liberalla]

44. She was alive until a few weeks ago???

Dang. I thought she died a long time ago!

[dsc]

45. If one can't say anything nice

[orleans]

46. oh, she's finally dead? IT'S ABOUT FUCKING TIME! (what an ASSHOLE!) NT

[NoMoreRepugs]

48. Say Hi to Satan for me.

[GP6971]

76. Bye Bye!! Again. Please acknowledge receipt of our reference number.

[Rebl2]

49. Thought she

died a long time ago.

[valleyrogue]

51. The unscrupulous first husband, Bob Green, put her up to being at the center of the ordinance controversy.

She dumped him a few years later, remarried, and mostly stayed out of the limelight. She still had her singing career (and her ministry), but she opted for a much lower profile.

RIP. She was four days younger than my late sister.

[Scrivener7]

52. Okay.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

55. No tears here!!

[W T F]

57. Couldn't have happened to a nicer person

[Buddyzbuddy]

58. I've chosen not to say anything at all.

[boonecreek]

59. She was too far right for Reagan?

That takes some doing!

[gay texan]

60. Well hell.

Im dressed up with a fruit pie in hand with no place to go....

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

61. Meh

I didn't know she was still around.

[dickthegrouch]

64. At last.

[cloudbase]

65. Wouldn't it be something if she

choked on a chick-fil-a sandwich?

[Martin Eden]

66. My mother taught me to only speak good of the dead.

Anita Bryant is dead. Good.

[struggle4progress]

68. The downfall of Anita Bryant

Her anti-gay campaign resulting in the loss of her career and wanting to end her life ...

[valleyrogue]

69. She had an abuser for a first husband, and he was her manager.

He put her up to the whole thing. It was a tremendous miscalculation. They divorced not long afterward.

There was a lot of big to-do about her marriage breaking up, while at the same time, Marlo Thomas, who was around 40 then, married Phil Donahue. One really didn't have much to do with the other, but some made a big contrast between them.

[tenderfoot]

70. She never changed her views and states in the video that what she did was right

I don't see anyone putting her up to that.

[tenderfoot]

77. She never changed

Though the times have changed significantly since Bryant’s heyday in the late ‘70s, it appears her views have not. In 2021, Bryant’s granddaughter Sarah Green told Slate that she came out to her grandmother on her 21st birthday. Bryant reportedly responded by saying homosexuality isn’t real.

“It’s very hard to argue with someone who thinks that an integral part of your identity is just an evil delusion,” Green said. Green, who clarified to them.us that she is bisexual, told Slate about her upcoming wedding to her fiancée, a woman, and said she wasn’t sure if her grandmother would be attending.

“I just kind of feel bad for her,” Green added. “And I think as much as she hopes that I will figure things out and come back to God, I kind of hope that she’ll figure things out.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/1970s-christian-crusader-anita-bryant-helped-spawn-floridas-lgbtq-cult-rcna24215

[hatrack]

78. For starters, the Variety URL is a perfect career summary: "dead-pop-singer-anti-gay-oranges"

Add to that the loss of 92% of Florida citrus production in the last 20 years, and the simple fact that pretty much anybody under 50 doesn't give a shit about sexual orientation, and you've defined the life of someone whose life was over years before she even knew it.