Though he didn't mention him by name, on Monday an activist in Staten Island clearly referenced Pete Davidson by repeatedly mentioning the borough's "King" during a press conference over a local bar co-owner, Danny Presti, who was arrested/released after allegedly reopening a bar in violation of state-mandated COVID-19 protocols, and for also allegedly hitting a deputy with his car.
This activist, identified by the NY Post as John Tabacco, was taking umbrage with a Weekend Update bit that hit the NBC airwaves a few nights ago in which Davidson called out protesting Staten Islanders who he said were making the locals "look like babies" over the nationally-covered protests they participated in to defy the closure of Mac's Public House which, obviously, is co-owned by Presti.
You can watch Tabacco's comments (or just skip them, doesn't matter to me) that were made earlier on Monday, and which were broadcast by Fox, in which the activist accuses Davidson of tossing the borough under the bus to get some laughs from a national audience. He also claims to have been a friend of Davidson's father, Scott, who was a New York firefighter that died on 9/11.
“The King of Staten Island’s dad was a proud fireman and a great friend of mine, and I saw Staten Islanders heavily come out and support him [Davidson], his mom, his family and everyone else in a time of need after 9/11, when I cried for his father,” Tabacco said.
“When I heard stuff like this, it hits me emotionally. If you came out of your perch in your affluent neighborhood and came down here and told the liberal left, ‘This is a good thing because it’s about our freedom and liberty,’ we probably wouldn’t be standing here today talking about a political prisoner [Presti] who was the victim of, in my view, a political ambush.”
Also (probably?) referenced in Tabacco's comments was Colin Jost, the anchor in the bit who also hails from Staten Island.
“Instead of coming down here as fellow Staten Islanders and standing up for them and bringing a positive light to this thing, what they want to do is go on national TV and try to humiliate the little man when he’s down,” Tabacco said. “And to me that’s quite disgusting.”
You can watch Pete's segment up top.
