Saturday Night Live cast member Pete Davidson ripped Staten Island coronavirus protesters, calling them “babies” after they congregated outside of a bar demanding it reopen.
“I saw the protests, people were outside the bar shouting about freedom, taunting the cops, chanting that they should arrest the governor, so I just assumed that it was a typical last call,” Davidson, a Staten Island native, said on Saturday Night Live this weekend.
He said that Mac’s Public House, which refashioned itself as an “autonomous zone” bar free from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s virus restrictions last month, is located in a “neighborhood with the second-highest COVID infections in all of New York, so the rule is that they’re only supposed to let people eat or drink outside.”
“And the owner said, ‘No one wants to do that because they’ll go out of business,’” he continued. “But the argument that people in Staten Island don’t want to drink outside can be disproven by going to literally any Little League game.”
Davidson, who is reportedly worth $2 million and brings in an estimated $315,000 a year, added that the protesters are making people in Staten Island “look like babies.”
Hundreds of people rallied outside of the Staten Island pub last week after it was closed for not following coronavirus restrictions and co-owner of Mac’s, Danny Presti, was arrested.
“The people have rights! Open the door, I’m thirsty!” one protester yelled outside of Mac’s Public House on Wednesday evening, according to the New York Daily News.
“Sheriffs go home,” “USA! USA!,” and “F— Cuomo!” was also heard.
People are fed up! Loved the energy tonight at the Mac’s Public House Rally pic.twitter.com/QIdjSgctNs
— Joe Caldarera (@JoeCalNYC) December 3, 2020
The co-owners of the bar have made the case that its employees need incomes, and the state shouldn’t stifle their livelihoods with coronavirus restrictions. The bar briefly reopened on Friday.
“We tried to sit down and be diplomatic with city and state officials; we had a meeting with the sheriff today,” Presti told freelance reporter Oliya Scootercaster.
“It did not go well. They’re just showing they’re not willing to work with us,” Presti continued. “We have to get our livelihoods back. And we’ll see where that goes. We haven’t been able to pay the utilities. Just everything’s piling up. We’re just scraping by.”
