Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Event/Special
Thanksgiving in America. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired November 27, 2025 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:30:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[10:35:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEA MICHELE, ACTOR, "CHESS": Hi, I'm Lea Michele.
NICHOLAS CHRISTOPHER, ACTOR, "CHESS": I'm Nicholas Christopher.
AARON TVEIT, ACTOR, "CHESS": I'm Aaron Tveit.
MICHELE: And we are from the cast of "Chess" on Broadway Wishing you a very happy Thanksgiving.
CHRISTOPHER: Come visit us at the Imperial Theater.
TVEIT: Happy Holidays.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our special Thanksgiving in America. We want to get straight out to our Isabel Rosales, right, John? Because she has done something that no one has managed to do yet during this special. She's on a float. Oh, no.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We'll get back to Isabel Rosales on a float.
SIDNER: We'll get back to Isabel. You know, technology. You know, she's on the float.
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I have the float. But we were --
SIDNER: We can't show you because technology didn't work. All right. Oh, there she is. Oh, no. There she is. You're now off the float, aren't you Isabel?
ROSALES: Can you see me? I'm so sorry, guys. It went so fast. Incredibly fast. And I have to stay so close to the satellite truck. We lost the signal. But I made it on the float for approximately 10.5 seconds. But hi from Motor City. Hi, guys. Detroit. Happy Thanksgiving.
You know, I've been hearing you guys mentioning a lot about New York City, right? That you guys are celebrating the 99th parade. But I want to let you know you're actually tied with us here in Detroit for second oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States. We're only behind the city of brotherly love.
Take a look at these floats. How amazing is this? Look at this. Oh, my goodness. Detroiters know what they are doing. About a million spectators here. 2,000 volunteers. Just incredible stuff. And what we're going to see later too are a few things that are unique to Detroit, starting with, listen to this, the world's largest paper mache collection, 300 plus paper mache big heads that will be shredding their stuff out here.
Shake, shake, shake, shake. Shake it off, shake it off.
Big Michigan residents like Henry Ford, Rosa Parks, Magic Johnson. It is going to be an incredible sight. Also, the Distinguished Clown Corps. It's about 200 community members that come up here dressed in clown gear. They take it very seriously. They're not clowning around. And people have generations of traditions around us.
But I mean, come over here. Let's take a closer look. Here we got a marching band. Detroit. Happy Thanksgiving. I'm going to send it back to you guys.
SIDNER: As they say, Detroit versus everybody.
BERMAN: That's right. They got a football game coming up today also.
SIDNER: They do.
BERMAN: Big tradition there. Great to see Isabel enjoying it so much. I think everyone in the crowd is loving Isabel too. Who isn't?
SIDNER: They're cheering for Isabel. She's in the play.
BERMAN: Go, go, go. All right. Let's get to Philadelphia now. Our Brad Smith is there and I think he's seeing someone special behind him. Brad, what do you got going on?
BRAD SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I heard you guys were talking about football. So, you can't talk about football without talking about the world champion Philadelphia Eagles. Can we? A-G-L. See. We got the chants. We got the hats. We got the Go Birds out. I think we got Santa too. Is that Santa? Did I see? Oh, that's Santa hitting the six, seven. Wow. Santa -- hey That's a Go Bird Santa right there.
Santa, Santa, can I give you a gift? It's very rare that you get to give Santa a gift. And that's just what we did here today. Happy Thanksgiving. I'll send it back to you all.
SIDNER: Oh, my goodness. Look at that. Don't go away. We have to keep Santa in frame because Santa's got a Birds hat on.
BERMAN: I have to say, it's nice for Santa not to hold a grudge, because quite famously Eagles fans once booed Santa Claus inside the stadium. But now, Santa has clearly forgiven. Got a giant heart.
SMITH: I think Santa's stolen my hat.
SIDNER: You gave it to him as a gift. You can't take it back now.
SMITH: I can't take it back now.
BERMAN: I think that gets you on the good list.
SMITH: You know what, we got the gift to Santa Claus, the Eagles hat. Yes, indeed. We love it We're out here with all the Philadelphians, the great people of Philadelphia who've witnessed this entire parade. And once again, this is the oldest Thanksgiving Day parade. And we got some lively folks out here.
[10:40:00]
We've got a lot to celebrate here. We're going to have the 250th celebration for America, and you can't do that without the original Nation's Capital. Let's not forget that. In Philadelphia as well, plenty coming up next year. You've got FIFA. You've got the MLB of course coming here for the All-Star Week. And then, additionally, we're going to have a lot more potentially in February if the Birds are able to do it again. We had to round it out with the Kelly Green and Santa, who's now got his own Kelly Green to go along with it.
SIDNER: Yes, he does.
BERMAN: Live pictures right now of Santa Claus in Philadelphia with the hat that he sort of stole?
SIDNER: No.
BERMAN: Sort of stole?
SIDNER: He was given it as a gift. He said, I have a gift for you. And then he took his gift, and he's probably going to keep it, because it was handed over by Brad there. I also have to mention, we got a lot of 6-7s behind you, just so you know. It is an extremely popular thing to do these days. But who is more popular than Santa? No one. Thank you so much, Brad there, live from the city of brotherly love. We do appreciate it.
One of the greatest gifts, I think, if you're an Eagles fan or if you aren't, is Jalen Hurts. Because he is beautiful, and he is so good.
BERMAN: Oh, wow. I think we just discovered one Jalen Hurts fan here during the Thanksgiving Day Parade.
SIDNER: I mean, you know, he's beautiful and so good at what he does. I mean, don't get shy. It's true. I've seen him in person, to be fair, to be fair. BERMAN: I just didn't have this on my bingo card. Sara Sidner gushing about how beautiful Jalen Hurts is on Thanksgiving.
SIDNER: The beautiful human being.
BERMAN: Tim, I know you're watching out there.
SIDNER: My husband's like, excuse you? As a Rams fan, I don't take it back. I want to give you a brand-new twist now on how to make Thanksgiving turkey and a dessert that is fast and fancy. It's the brainchild of the Voltaggio brothers. Michael and Bryan are both award-winning chefs who competed on Top Chef Las Vegas 1-1, and one came in as a runner-up. And this year, they're part of the Food Network's Tournament of Champions All-Star Christmas. Michael and Bryan got me cooking. They whipped up turkey kebabs. Yes, it was quite good. And turned a store-bought pie into a masterpiece. Check this out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER: Oh, powder break. I'm sure this happens in your own homes.
MICHAEL VOLTAGGIO, CHEF: He's trying, he's everywhere with us.
SIDNER: You guys are eating at home, he's like, oh.
M. VOLTAGGIO: Having breakfast, he's in the kitchen.
BRYAN VOLTAGGIO, CHEF: We're going to make turkey kebabs.
M. VOLTAGGIO: You want me to do this?
B. VOLTAGGIO: Please, if you could.
M. VOLTAGGIO: Yes, chef.
SIDNER: Brother rivalry has begun. OK. Now I'm going to start some more stuff between the brothers. I'm so sorry.
M. VOLTAGGIO: Here we go.
SIDNER: But you started it first. One of you won Top Chef, and the other came in as a runner-up. Has there always been a rivalry, and what does that do to the rivalry?
M. VOLTAGGIO: I can't hear you. I'm food processing the butter right now. Bryan, why don't you take that question?
B. VOLTAGGIO: I'd love to tell that story. Yes, so yes, Michael famously beat me in the first season we've ever competed together.
M. VOLTAGGIO: He held that grudge for like 10 years. And then recently, just got his revenge against me. He came on to our show and beat me on my own show with Bobby. So, you know, not just in front of everyone, but literally in front of my boss. B. VOLTAGGIO: We can have fun doing it, support each other, be each other's, you know, check and balance when it comes to creating dishes, and, you know, it's very authentic in that way.
SIDNER: I love that.
M. VOLTAGGIO: Brother's got a hug.
SIDNER: And it's starting again. There was no sarcasm at all in that.
B. VOLTAGGIO: No, not at all, there wasn't.
SIDNER: Have you made this for the family before?
B. VOLTAGGIO: Yes, once.
M. VOLTAGGIO: To test it for this.
B. VOLTAGGIO: To test it, yes.
SIDNER: Sometimes a turkey takes too long. I remember waiting. It felt like forever as a kid. What about you guys?
M. VOLTAGGIO: It was more like, is it going to be good? I think that's what everyone's really waiting for when they're talking about turkey.
B. VOLTAGGIO: Mom might be watching.
M. VOLTAGGIO: This is going to be good. This is your dish, you cook it.
B. VOLTAGGIO: Yes, I got it.
SIDNER: They're switching places.
M. VOLTAGGIO: Yes, let's use the burn one, because he did it.
B. VOLTAGGIO: All right.
SIDNER: You're like, that's his. I did the other thing.
B. VOLTAGGIO: Show off.
M. VOLTAGGIO: He's not even looking at it. He won't even talk to us right now. He's like in that, I'm plating zone.
B. VOLTAGGIO: I'm looking for the perfect side, yes.
SIDNER: Now, for the dessert.
M. VOLTAGGIO: I feel like dessert's really your time to flex. Store- bought pie, we're going to start out by deconstructing this pie. I'm just going to scoop all that pie filling right into the blender. We're going to chop up the crust. Bryan, if you want to do that.
B. VOLTAGGIO: Yes, I can do that.
M. VOLTAGGIO: Chop it up almost like into a crumble. How many times is something like, oh, I've been baking all day, just rolling out the pie crust.
SIDNER: Yes.
M. VOLTAGGIO: So, now you can show off, but somebody else has done the prep work. Like, I have Bryan here to chop my crust.
SIDNER: Look at what I'm doing. It's the wrong --
M. VOLTAGGIO: That is really good.
SIDNER: This is hard.
M. VOLTAGGIO: That is goal support.
SIDNER: I just want you guys to know I'm sweating here.
[10:45:00]
M. VOLTAGGIO: We're going to pour this hot mixture of cream, pumpkin spice, and sugar over top our pumpkin pie filling. We're going to blend this together until it's nice and smooth. We're going to plug the blender in first.
SIDNER: And there it goes. It's happening.
M. VOLTAGGIO: We're going to fill these molds. I'm going to throw this in the freezer. I'll see you guys in like three hours.
SIDNER: Three hours?
M. VOLTAGGIO: I'll be back.
SIDNER: Cool.
M. VOLTAGGIO: All right. These are out of the freezer. So, this is colored cocoa butter. And so, now, this is where you get to go back to like -- I won't talk about any of our childhood days when we were out skateboarding and --
SIDNER: Oh, no. I'm asking. I'm asking.
M. VOLTAGGIO: I'm going to move this over here and just --
SIDNER: I feel like you've done this before, but maybe to a side of a building or something.
M. VOLTAGGIO: You know, I'll never tell you the answer to that question. So, this is what happens when you sneak into Food Network Kitchen when not many other people are here, we just -- we get to play with our food.
B. VOLTAGGIO: Cheers. Happy Thanksgiving. That's a lot of fun. I like that.
M. VOLTAGGIO: I love to hear that sound.
SIDNER: Did you hear that? Your brother's like, I like that.
M. VOLTAGGIO: He's never complimented a single thing I've ever cooked. So, thank you.
B. VOLTAGGIO: It's rare.
SIDNER: This has been -- you see this? A finger licking good.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER: Thank you to the Voltaggio brothers. It was delicious, let me just tell you. Speaking of delicious and delightful, our Erica Hill is there. It was really -- I said, we can tell people that this is like a homemade dessert, right? Because they took it from a pie that was already store-bought and made. And I'm like, this is the kind of dessert that I will be bringing to the table. So, as not to have to do all the work, right, Erica?
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm all about a time saver. Right. We just want to enjoy it. I would say my only issue with that entire segment, Sara, is that you didn't bring anything to share, because it looked amazing.
SIDNER: But you know what? I have you and you brought us the most delectable little turkeys that happened to be chocolate inside, I have learned, this just in. And we've been literally gobbling these up, pun intended.
John Berman, John Berman, let's widen out the shot. Let's show you. He just left me sitting here just -- you know, because he had something better to do, I guess, earlier today.
HILL: But you know who did not leave you? This girl. I would never leave you, Sara Sidner. Always by your side. Oh, look, John's back.
BERMAN: Everything went very well. I am thankful.
SIDNER: Although, well, are you feeling happy now?
HILL: I'm so glad to hear that everything went well, JB.
SIDNER: Exactly. And there was no rain and it was beautiful.
HILL: That's amazing.
SIDNER: We will be right back with a lot more pictures from around the country of Thanksgiving in America.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:50:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
HILL: How about a Chappell Roan out of Chicago, some "Pink Pony Club." As we continue our coverage of Thanksgiving in America, live pictures here from Chicago again with Chappell Roan, "Pink Pony Club." Can't beat that on a Thanksgiving morning.
So, good to have everybody with us. Oh, hey, I have a clown friend. There we go. Hi, clown friend. So, many friends here on the streets of New York. This is, I mean, such a fun place to be here in New York City and all around the country. We just showed you pictures of Chicago. Of course, we have also been following the activity around Derek Van Dam running a half marathon during our broadcast in Atlanta. We saw him get the medal live.
Chicago, as we just saw, we've got Detroit. We have Houston, Philadelphia, which, of course, is the oldest Thanksgiving parade in the country here in New York City. We are tied, I believe it's with Detroit. This is the 99th Thanksgiving Day parade here in New York City. So, special.
And so, many friends are a part of this show with us this morning, not just in those cities, but taking a minute to do something special for all of you at home, including The Temptations. Take a look.
[10:55:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:00:00]
