Staten Island residents aren’t very happy about being the butt of a “Saturday Night Live” joke over weekend.
During Saturday night’s show, castmembers and host Blake Lively hopped on the ferry to salute velour tracksuits, big hair and the use of “frig” for a “Gossip Girl Staten Island” skit.
“In this xenophobic, homophobic alternate universe of ‘Noo Yawk,’ the hair, earrings, cleavage and attitude are as big as the IQs are small,” writes Deborah Young of the Staten Island Advance about the late-night show’s portrayal of the borough.
“I’m not at the gym all the time, I’m not tanning,” says 27-year-old Stapleton resident Gena Mimozo to the paper about the “SNL” skit that was, ironically, written by a Staten Island native, writing supervisor Colin Jost.
Jost, who grew up in Grymes Hill, contends that Staten Islanders “aren’t very good at laughing at themselves,” and self-proclaimed “guido” Charlie Balducci agrees.
“Obviously, these people are playing on the stereotypes of Staten Island,” Balducci said. “It’s just funny to me how terribly actors do when they’re trying to re-create the authenticity of a guido or a guidette.”
Watch the skit below and read the full story here.