Metro

De Blasio wife defends Cheerios ad

Mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio’s favorite cereal just became Cheerios.

In an e-mail to supporters, Chirlane McCray, de Blasio’s wife, rushed to the defense of a Cheerios ad featuring an interracial family that has caused something of a sensation — and backlash — on the Internet.

McCray, who is black, said that when she first met deBlasio, who is white, she was more concerned about their six-year age difference “than the color of his skin.”

“As an interracial couple, we sometimes felt conspicuous — which was painful,” she wrote. “If you’re in love with someone, you’re in love with someone…That’s why the Cheerios ad is so refreshing.”

Attached to McCray’s e-mail was a photo of herself, de Blasio and one of their sons eating breakfast with a large box of Cheerios prominent at the center of the table.

The ad has generated 1.5 million hits on the Internet, most of them positive.

But some of the comments on You Tube were so inflammatory that Cheerios shut down that section of its site.

McCray, who earlier spoke about her lesbian past, suggested there was a link between what Cheerios was doing and what her husband hoped to accomplish as mayor by “fighting for every New Yorker.”

She then provided a link to the de Blasio campaign website.