Mamma Mia, they are mad!<\/p>\n
Local Italian-Americans are asking \u201cWhat\u2019s a\u2019matter witchu, Mamdani?\u201d after the mayor skipped Manhattan\u2019s Columbus Day Parade festivities<\/a> on Monday \u2014 but they didn\u2019t let Hizzoner\u2019s \u201cdisgrazia\u201d dampen their day.<\/p>\n The democratic socialist mayor was a no-show but numerous other local politicians marched down Fifth Avenue, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman and City Council Speaker Julie Menin, a Democrat fresh off serving as grand marshaled for Brooklyn\u2019s Columbus parade on Saturday.<\/p>\n Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, who has tied Hochul to Mamdani called him the city\u2019s \u201cmost divisive mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman marching in the Columbus Day Parade in Manhattan on Oct. 12, 2026. Stephen Yang for NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cI think that\u2019s an affront to Italian Americans,\u201d Blakeman told The Post. \u201cThe fact is that he is a very divisive guy. He\u2019s got people at each other\u2019s throats. As an elected official, you\u2019re supposed to make people happy, bring them together.\u201d<\/p>\n Proud Italian American Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the vigilante group the Guardian Angels, didn\u2019t take kindly to the mayor\u2019s no-show either.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a word for that in the streets. It\u2019s disgrazia,\u201d said Sliwa, who ran for mayor as a Republican against Mamdani in 2025.<\/p>\n New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani declined to attend Monday\u2019s Columbus Day Parade on Fifth Ave. Stephen Yang for NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cHe has said basically uffa to the Italian Americans and that is disgrazia,\u201d Sliwa told The Post. \u201cWe say, \u2018Uffa!’\u201d<\/p>\n Sliwa wasn\u2019t the only Italian-American fuming about the mayor during the party along Fifth, where thousands lined the streets to watch descendants of the boot march in the commemoration of the Italian explorer.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very disrespectful,\u201d 33-year-old Brooklynite Mike Gullo said, calling the mayor\u2019s move \u201cinsulting\u201d to Italian Americans.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can ask anyone here and they would say the same,\u201d Gullo added. \u201cIt\u2019s very sad. He should be here, he represents this city.\u201d<\/p>\n Word of Mamdani\u2019s parade snub broke Sunday but came as no surprise<\/a> \u2014 the lefty mayor has long reviled the iconic Italian explorer, dismissing him as a violent colonizer for his violent treatment of natives.<\/p>\n Paradegoers lining Fifth Avenue with their Italian flags. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n Children marching in the Columbus Day Parade on Oct. 12, 2026. Getty Images<\/p>\n The annual Columbus Day Parade on Fifth Ave. draws Italian-Americans from across New York City and beyond. Stephen Yang for NY Post<\/p>\n An attendee holding up a \u201cFire Mamdani\u201d sign at the Columbus Day Parade. Stephen Yang for NY Post<\/p>\n And the mayor has given little quarter to the role Columbus historically played in the hearts and minds of Italian-Americans, who revere him as one of the greats of American history for \u201cdiscovering\u201d the New World with his famous 1492 voyage that brought the continent into contact with the rest of the world.<\/p>\n Mamdani has long focused on the darker sides of Columbus\u2019 story, joining leftist calls to eradicate monuments to the Italian of all kinds \u2014 notoriously posting \u201cTake it down\u201d alongside a photo of him giving the middle finger to a Queens statue<\/a> of Columbus in 2020.<\/p>\n It was behavior like that which left some parade-goers grateful Hizzoner decided to skip.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s better that he\u2019s not here,\u201d 60-year-old Woodsider Anne Marie said. \u201cIt probably would have been controversial. Nobody wants to look at his face.<\/p>\n Gov. Kathy Hochul shaking hands with paradegoers on Monday. Stephen Yang for NY Post<\/p>\n NYPD officers gathered on Fifth Ave. ahead of the Columbus Day Parade on Monday. Stephen Yang for NY Post<\/p>\n A Columbus impersonator marching in the parade. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the former Archbishop of New York, attending the parade. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s horrible,\u201d she added. \u201cI\u2019m not surprised he\u2019s not here.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m happy,\u201d 79-year-old Camile Staffe said of Mamdani\u2019s absence. \u201cIt\u2019s about the Italians.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cItaly doesn\u2019t get enough credit, but we contribute to America. They try to make it about indigenous people. It\u2019s not fair,\u201d she added. \u201cMy grandfather helped build the Empire State Building.\u201d<\/p>\n