'Brooklyn 11223' Upsetting Bay Ridge Councilman Vinnie Gentile

Brooklynites are up in arms over "Brooklyn 11223," a new television show that residents say portrays them with unflattering, trashbag stereotypes.

Evoking MTV's "Jersey Shore" backlash in 2010, a recent editorial in The New York Post sums up the show's plot as "caricatures of slutty 'guidos' totally lacking in manners and sexual restraint...the show cements the basest bigotry."

Oxygen network's obvious spin on the irritating success of "Jersey Shore" will probably just end up being a vapid failure, but Bay Ridge Councilman Vinnie Gentile is making sure people know he's angry. His spokesman tells The Politicker:

We all need to take responsibility - parents, TV studios, advertisers, journalists, policymakers and even teenagers – for what is being watched by the younger generations. There is no redeeming social value or positive takeaway from the perpetuation of these trashy and classless stereotypes that serve only to degrade, denigrate and objectify women and Italian-Americans.

Apparently, there's even a meet up planned at Beyond Dance Studio in Bay Ridge, where residents can voice their rage and protest the show.

Watch the promo below. Try not to squirm:

Comments

[GZLives]

01:45 PM on 02/27/2012

Why would anyone squirm?

[rikster]

01:14 PM on 02/27/2012

Brooklyn matra.."I can get it cheepah".....repeat many times...

[Mena Mey]

11:35 AM on 02/27/2012

If you're not interested in the show, just shut up & don't watch it. It's that simple. And if you're one of those complaining about the "bad publicity" it will give the neighborhoods it was filmed in, have you considered how it may affect them in a positive way? It will put certain places on the map, which means greater "tourism" so to say & better business for the clubs &/or restaurants. Our economy could use this right now. Stop wasting time bashing what you hate & spend more time promoting what you love.

[rt546]

12:28 AM on 02/27/2012

Bay Ridge is not 11223. The Bay Ridge zip code is actually 11209 (as many people have also posted). Bay Ridge is a great neighborhood with tons of great restaurants, shopping, and many cafes and bars. There are tons of families and successful people that live in Bay Ridge: small business owners, doctors, lawyers, and other professionals. Real estate is actually very expensive, and it's actually an extremely exclusive area because of its close proximity to Manhattan and its quaint, yet diverse neighborhood feel. Just because some trash from other parts of the city come to the bars there, it doesn't define the area and the types of people who actually live there. People choose to go out in Bay Ridge because there are nice places, it's a little more low key than going out to some fancy/more expensive places in the city, and parking is more convenient. A few idiots on a tv show should not be allowed to poison the reputation of such a great area. I hope to one day be able to raise my family in the same neighborhood that I've grown up in.

[news360]

10:34 AM on 02/26/2012

These girls make Jerry Springer's guests look smart.

[Ainsi sera groigne qui]

06:48 PM on 02/24/2012

Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst as known back in the days of clubs such as "Pastels" or when "wise guys" (and we're speaking of the genuine articles not the jumped up wannabes you see today), has long gone. The area has changed so much don't see what anyone is complaining about.

It started bit by bit as "minorities" (and this includes whites such as Russians) began moving in bit by bit as the old timers either died off and or moved (mainly to Staten Island). Normally the Italians and Irish would have left their homes to the kids, but as the area changed *they* didn't want to live there either.

So now they have decamped to Staten Island, mainly on the South Shore where they live in cookie-cutter "town houses" built on former swamps and or other areas natives would have never purchased a home (for good reasons), and have brought their bad behaviour with them.

It really is too funny. Yards are paved over to make mini-parking lots for several cars (every home seems to have at least three or four cars, often Mercedes Benz, BMW, Caddies, etc), basements are remodeled into rent free apartments for grown sons who despite having no visable means of support drive MB "E" or "S" class cars. Where enough "onsite" parking does not exsist they place rubbish cans or "cone"s in front of their homes to "save" their spots and you value your life cheaply if you even attempt to move them.

[njoytday]

04:30 PM on 02/26/2012

11223 is also near Ocean parkway and Ave T etc. which is Jewish Arab territory. Syrians Lebanese, Iranians, Yemenites, Egytians, etc all live here and speak Arabic in the syagogues. The West streets are probably the Italians and Russians.
But yes there is no reason to portrya a group in a way unflattering just for money .

[bkstacy]

02:58 PM on 02/24/2012

I refuse to watch this show ,A bunch of girl claiming to be from Bay Ridge but NOT !! By us watching this trashy show is putting money in there pockets I refuse to do that,,,,,

[goatini]

09:39 PM on 02/25/2012

F/F, from someone who was there when it was still just Brooklyn 9

[SparkleMoon4]

12:12 PM on 02/24/2012

Yea, I walk with my swag on too...in my matching velor sweatsuit just like everybody else in this neighborhood. Oh and the zipcode is wrong, 11223 is NOT Bay Ridge. Ugh, this show does not represent where my family comes from and where I now live. My grandmother is rolling in her grave and I cannot WAIT until my mother sees this preview....

[njoytday]

04:30 PM on 02/26/2012

Right. Wrong ZIP.

[natasha1954]

11:45 AM on 02/24/2012

I just think reality TV sleaze is getting to be a bore. I gave up the habit last year and haven't had any relapses.

[avas]

10:59 AM on 02/24/2012

The Nanny was pretty derisive of Jews wasn't it? Just saying.

[Eno]

09:58 AM on 02/24/2012

I lived in Bensonhurst for two years and partied in Bay Ridge a few times, more or less, the type of crowd that hung out at the local bars were very "jersey shore" kind of people (many from Staten Island I think), very meat neck and guidette. South Brooklyn is known for being primarily Russian Jewish & Italian. I finally had to move out because I got tired of being called a "$pic" by the neighborhood youth driving by in their moms and dads BMW & Mercedes. I would sit out in front of the building and in the insults would start rolling - "get out of the neighborhood brownie". A look back at the history of south Brooklyn shows blacks being killed by Italians for just passing through the neighborhood. very sad bunch of people.

[Chriskarin]

11:03 AM on 02/24/2012

Bensonhurst has changed a lot since you lived there. Italians are not killing blacks anymore for just passing through, I live in 11223 and see many blacks and Hispanics pass my house all the time and no one does anything. Gravesend 11223 has had a wave of new people moving in, Asians, Russians, Pakistani etc. The Guidos and Guidettes for the most part have moved to staten Island and New Jersey.

[Eno]

02:21 PM on 02/24/2012

As I said - "A look back at the HISTORY of South Brooklyn" I in no way said that this was happening today. But a lot of the racisit fever is still instilled in long time residents of south brookly as I'm sure they are down south and across all corners of America.

[Goldie Treasure]

12:35 AM on 02/25/2012

I'm a mixed race young woman and I moved to Bensonhurst for school and there were some nice people, but I can't tell you how many people would stop what they were doing while I was walking by and just stare at me, like they never saw anyone not Italian before. Nothing has changed at all in that dreadful neighborhood, just because no one has been killed does not mean they are not still racist.

[Ainsi sera groigne qui]

06:30 PM on 02/24/2012

You are describing a Bensonhurst and Bay Ridge that existed until the 1980's or perhaps as late as the mid 1990's or so. That is when the area was known for it's major Italian and Irish population and yes any minority (Blacks, Latins) or anyone else with dark skin valued their life cheaply to be roaming around those streets, especially after dark. However today things have changed.

Most of the "old school" Italians have decamped for Staten Island (and brought their rude manners and prejudices with them), whilst the area has become mostly if not mainly Muslims, Blacks, Latins, Russians, etc.. anything but the original "old world" populations.

[skar123]

02:08 PM on 02/25/2012

The Germans in Brooklyn felt the same way when the Sicilians started moving in...

[goatini]

09:46 PM on 02/25/2012

"Real Housewives of The Staten Island Expressway"

[bestmugshots]

09:29 AM on 02/24/2012

I lived in Bay Ridge a few years and I moved because of morons like this. If you don't like stereotypes then stop having people perpetuate them in their real lives.

[thevmking]

08:06 AM on 03/06/2012

a black man who does the morality on others ahahahaha

[thevmking]

08:18 AM on 03/06/2012

such as blacks and their bands with his pants down. gangster wannabes. a black person who judges other people is just absurd

[RiaNYC]

09:29 AM on 02/24/2012

11223 is Gravesend Brooklyn, not Bay Ridge

[ThreeCatNight]

10:49 AM on 02/24/2012

That's right. 11209 is Bay Ridge.

[goatini]

09:40 PM on 02/25/2012

And Brooklyn 9 before the ZIP

[njoytday]

04:39 PM on 02/26/2012

This is Arabic Jewish. You hear Arabic spoken everywhere in 11223.

[silive]

06:56 AM on 02/24/2012

Italian-Americans...the only nationality that people are allowed to exploit on TV and put in the worst possible light and get no pushback from it. Yes a few may complain, but nothing seems to come from it. I can only imagine if the plethora of shows like jersey shore or mob wives or this trash would be about other ethnic groups the outrage that would insue. Yet the kids keep lining up to do these shows, and all i can think is where are their parents? I dont care how old my daughters are they would never be on a show like this.

[bestmugshots]

09:31 AM on 02/24/2012

Italians are the only nationality that people are allowed to exploit? FAIL. Black women are totally misrepresented and exploited. See Flavor of Love, I Love New York, Charm School, Bad Girls Club, etc.

[ZC1968]

11:00 PM on 02/23/2012

More trash from the Gutter of NYC.

[ThreeCatNight]

10:53 AM on 02/24/2012

These people are not representative of all of NYC. You've probably never even been here to make that judgement.

[thevmking]

08:10 AM on 03/06/2012

only 28% of Americans have a passport to travel. This means that 72% knew only america. before you make judgments about people, you take a plane is coming in Italy. Only after being in my country for a while you will judge us. These evaluations demonstrate the ignorance of foolish Americans

[ZC1968]

11:22 AM on 03/06/2012

First of all, I am not passing judgements about Italy. Secondly, you must feel guilty by association, which is not my problem. Thirdly, learn how to communicate, write and use proper American grammar.