New York
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg refused to march in a Columbus Day parade this week after organizers barred him from bringing along two actors from the HBO series The Sopranos. The TV show chronicles the lives of New Jersey mobsters, all of Italian descent. Bloomberg had planned to march down Fifth Avenue with actors Lorraine Bracco and Dominic Chianese. But leaders of the Columbus Citizens Foundation, the Italian-American group that runs the parade, said they were “deeply offended by this program’s extremely negative and ugly stereotyping of our people.” The outspoken Bloomberg said he was surprised. “Bada bing, bada boom,” he said. “All of a sudden they’re down my throat.”
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