New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has taken issue with MTV’s upcoming reality series Made in Staten Island, which follows a group of young people who are trying to distance themselves from families connected to organized crime in the area.
“Anyone who has spent any time on Staten Island knows MTV is peddling stereotypes in a shameless ratings grab,” de Blasio tweeted last week about the show.
His sentiment about the reality series is shared by a large group of fellow New Yorkers. A petition on Change.org which aims to “cancel the show or remove the borough’s name from the title” has received over 7,000 signatures to date.
City Councilman Joseph C. Borelli also criticized the show, telling The New York Times, “We’ve been stereotyped before but now they are playing this stereotype out among kids and glorifying a life of crime. They are stereotyping Italian-Americans on Staten Island as having a connection to criminal enterprises. If you named any other race, religion or creed, people would be upset about that.”
Made in Staten Island is set to premiere Monday.
A request for comment from MTV was not immediately returned.
