Guidos to Belmar’s mayor: Hey, shudduppa you face!
Furious Staten Islanders think the Jersey Shore pol who recently disrespected them as a bunch of tacky, overtanned loudmouths, should go wash his mouth out with soap.
“The mayor should watch his f- – -ing mouth!” said Cameron Mambelli, 21, of Great Kills, SI, who was working on his tan with a group of friends yesterday on the beach at Belmar, NJ.
The mayor of that popular seaside resort, Ken Pringle, ignited interstate outrage with a July 4 newsletter to residents that insulted visitors from Staten Island.
He said the borough’s women use too much hairspray and get into drunken bar fights – and that the men are Armani Exchange-wearing “guidos” with skin “tanned to the color of coconut shells.”
“The next thing he’s going to say is that every guido is in the Mafia. What? I’m supposed to have a ‘goumada’? ” sniped Sebastian Mauro, 37, a self-described “guido” who frequents Belmar and owns a home in New Jersey.
“I think people in New Jersey are watching too much ‘Sopranos.’ I may actually sell my house . . . if guidos aren’t welcome in New Jersey.”
John Englebert, a spokesman for the Staten Island Good Neighbor Association, said New Yorkers should refuse to visit the beach town.
“We shouldn’t be treated as the bottom of the barrel,” he said. “His mother should wash his mouth out with soap!”
Englebert said the only way he would forgive Pringle would be if the Jersey pol apologized and then came to Staten Island to take a tour. Otherwise, Englebert vowed to fund a campaign to vote Pringle out of office.
“[Belmar] is a beautiful place, but it’s not better than Staten Island,” he said.
Pringle has said he meant the comments as tongue-in-cheek.
His newsletter made various lame attempts at wit, including his opinion that “guidos” are “a kind of rare bird: They flock to our shore towns during the warm months, and are as welcome as, oh, Canada geese.”
At Belmar yesterday, Staten Islanders were not appreciating the joke.
“I don’t give a damn about what he said, I’m proud to be from Staten Island,” said Stephanie Giangrande, 18.
The mayor of nearby Bradley Beach, Julie Schreck, insisted her town “welcomes Staten Islanders.”
Some commenters on Schreck’s blog weren’t so welcoming. “Way too many SI accents on the beach this weekend,” wrote one.