Former Mayor Bill de Blasio recently made a peculiar appearance on social media, featuring a rather unorthodox method of consuming pizza. In the video stunt aimed at promoting Kamala Harris’ presidential bid, de Blasio is seen taking a piece of cheese pizza and pouring dried coconut shavings over it, before flipping the slice around to eat it backwards. The act appears to be an attempt by de Blasio to capture the internet’s attention, as he dumps the coconut onto his pizza in a restaurant setting.
The 63-year-old politician-turned-academic shared this unusual video on social media platform X with the caption “I am hungry. I will eat pizza today”, as part of a promotional effort for “Paisans for Kamala,” a virtual event that will feature Italian-American stars and politicians, taking place later in the week. De Blasio hopes to generate excitement for this event, which will include appearances from well-known actors such as Steve Buscemi, Marisa Tomei, Lorraine Bracco, John Turturro, among others. In addition to these famous faces, politicians including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Congressman John Garamendi, and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro are also expected to attend the virtual dinner.
Paisans for Kamala” aims to bring together Italian-American stars, political figures, and community members for an evening of storytelling, sharing recipes, and discussing the importance of the 2024 election. This event follows in the footsteps of another one organized by de Blasio back in January 2014. During this earlier gathering at Staten Island Pizzeria Goodfellas, he was widely criticized for eating a smoked-mozzarella-and-sausage pie with a knife and fork, sparking the hashtag #forkgate among New Yorkers who staunchly advocate for consuming pizza by hand.
The former mayor defended his unconventional approach to eating pizza at the time, explaining that he picked up the habit while in Italy, where using utensils when consuming pizza is more commonplace.
