STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A former Staten Island councilmember is facing fierce backlash after using a slur in a tweet on Super Bowl Sunday.
Joe Borelli, who left his South Shore City Council seat January 2025, wrote in a since deleted post to X, the following: “This was the most r——d thing to happen during the Bad Bunny show.”
His comment was in reference to Michigan’s Democratic Congressmember Shri Thanedar posting two selfies in front of his TV screen with Bad Bunny performing in the background — not the Bad Bunny halftime show itself.
“It was wrong for a member of the school board to use that word. It just was. No excuses. I apologize,” Borelli said in a comment to the Advance/SILive.com.
Borelli presently serves on the New York City school board — specifically, as a member of the Panel for Educational Policy.
The school board’s chair, Greg Faulkner, said this of Borelli’s tweet: “Such language is fundamentally at odds with the mission of this Panel and the inclusive environment we strive to build for our students and their families.”
“We are unwavering in our support for all of our students, regardless of background or disability, and we strongly condemn the type of language used by a PEP member yesterday evening,” NYC Education Department Spokesperson Nicole Brownstein said in a written statement.
Borelli was recently honored in July 2025 for his work with Eden II, a Staten Island non-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting community members with autism.
In a post to LinkedIn in July, Borelli said: “This organization has been helping generations of Staten Island kids with different challenges. I was glad to support them for many years while in office, and I am equally proud to support them now.”