Is she for real?
A talk show host has been left bemused after a psychotically snobbish caller – or someone pretending to be —- said stop-and-frisk should be stopped in every borough except Manhattan because Manhattanites are “special.”
John Schiumo of NY1’s Wednesday night show “The Call” was left flabbergasted by “Joan” from the Upper West Side, who said she was hesitant about voting Bill de Blasio for mayor.
On his critcism of the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy, Joan said a ban on the measure should not apply in Manhattan.
“You can’t expect us to live by the same rules we dictate to other people, for heaven’s sake,” Joan said.
“Just because people like me are against stop-and-frisk in places like Brooklyn and Queens and Staten Island doesn’t mean we don’t want it to continue in Manhattan.
“I mean, Manhattan is special. Let’s put it this way, we are New York. Brooklyn and Queens and Staten Island, I don’t even like talking about those kinds of places.”
“I assume you’re being sarcastic,” Schiumo replied.
“No, I’m being sincere,” Joan said.
“I don’t know why that’s funny,” she said when Schiumo cracked into laughter.
“That’s one of the funniest things i’ve heard in eight years on this program,” he said. “I thought you were kidding.”
Viewers on Twitter debated the legitimacy of the caller, asking whether she was purposely putting on an act.
@SladeHV It's CLEARLY satirical.
— Philip Bump (@pbump) August 16, 2013
Schiumo tweeted last night that he still isn’t sure if the woman was being sincere.
Impossible to tell in the moment. “@JLGull1: Was the UWS caller sincere or parody of people that sound like she did? Was hard to tell”
— John Schiumo (@Schiumo) August 16, 2013