Queens GOP condemns Young Republicans’ ‘vile’ group chat — Queens Daily Eagle

By Jacob Kaye

Republican leaders in Queens distanced themselves from a group of Young Republicans who regularly used racial slurs, and antisemitic, sexist and violent language in a leaked Telegram chat reported by POLITICO this week.

Anthony Nunziato, the chair of the Queens County Republican Party, said he was “appalled” by the details of the group chat where leaders of Young Republican clubs throughout the country used language demeaning to Black, Jewish, Hispanic and Asian people.

The release of the group chat shook political circles throughout the country on Wednesday. Several of the group’s members were fired from their positions in government prior to the publishing of the story.

One member of the group chat, Joe Maligno, was fired from his job with the Unified Court System after the details of the chat were reported, according to POLITICO. Maligno, who worked as an associate court attorney to Staten Island Judge Mary A. Kavanagh, reportedly suggested that Young Republican members who didn’t vote for his colleague for a leadership position should be executed in a similar manar to the killing of Jews during the Holocaust.

“It’s terrible,” Nunziato said.

The Queens GOP leader said that while he plans on speaking with Young Republican groups in Queens, he believes the hateful rhetoric is confined only to those in the chat. He said that he didn’t feel the way the leaders of GOP groups throughout the country spoke was representative of the future of the party as a whole.

“I know so many young Republicans that are brilliant,” Nunziato said. “They’re helping our candidates, they’re going door-to-door, they really believe in what’s great for America.”

“For these few on top to try to taint the whole group, they should be thrown out of the Republican Party,” he added.

City Councilmember Joann Ariola, who formerly led the Queens GOP and who currently leads the City Council’s Republican caucus, also condemned what she called “vile, hateful rhetoric.”

“It has no place in any discourse, public or private,” Ariola said in a statement to the Eagle. “I’ve spent the better part of my life dedicated to growing the Republican party, and a big part of our success has been growing coalitions of diverse communities around shared issues and values.”

The New York Young Republican Club, which is led by former Queens State Senate candidate Stefano Forte, did not respond to the Eagle’s request for comment on Wednesday.