A wealthy white couple held a press conference Tuesday to defend themselves against accusations of racism after they held a party that seemingly mocked Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the US.
The wife of the couple, Mary Znidarsic-Nicosia, insisted the event — during which her lawn was decorated with buckets of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Hennessy cognac, a large cut-out of Donald Trump and Juneteenth themed party decorations — was to make fun of liberals, not be racist.
The bizarre news conference came after a black firefighter, Jerrod Jones, filed a notice to sue the city of Rochester, where the party took place. Jones claims his boss forced him to attend the party along with several other Rochester firefighters while he was on duty.
Jones said that in addition to the KFC buckets and Juneteenth décor, there were photos of local politicians on stakes in the ground. He also said a female entertainer was there dressed as and portraying a local lawmaker in a sexual manner.
The city of Rochester, located in western New York, has investigated Jones’ claims, but before his boss could be fired, he retired.
Jones says neither the city nor fire department have taken sufficient action following the July event.
Nearly two weeks after Jones’ notice of claim was filed, Znisdarsic-Nicosia and her husband, Dr Nicholas Nicosia, made a bizarre attempt to get a handle on the situation. While the two are not the subject of the lawsuit, they are named in it
Znidarsic-Nicosia told reporters she was trying to defend herself from ‘false claims of racism.’
Oddly, she then said: ‘But before I do that, in full disclosure, I do have a Twitter parody account that operates under a veil of a persona — and I have made blatantly racist comments under that persona.’
The account she alluded to, @HoHoHomeboyRoc, would regularly troll local elected officials, journalists and black people who lived in Rochester.
While she didn’t acknowledge the Twitter account by name, Znidarsic-Nicosia confirmed the photo used as its profile picture, which was a bust of a black caricature, was an item she had on display in her Rochester mansion.
During the news conference, the couple’s attorney Corey Hogan insisted the event was a ‘political party’ and had no racist intent. An invitation to the gathering described it as the ‘First Annual Liberal Smashin Splish Splash Pool Party.’
Hogan presented a slideshow of photos from the couple’s backyard during the party, which he said proved the party was not racist.
While Hogan admitted that Znidarsic’s secret Twitter account was ‘racist, wrong and vile’ he insisted she lived by different standards. He also attributed the fallout, which included Dr. Nicosia losing patients and receiving bad google reviews to cancel culture.
‘They just all dumped them because of how powerful this cancel culture is,’ Hogan said. ‘Now they have to decide, do they live in Rochester anymore or do they move? Can they redeem their character? That’s maybe what the judicial system can do. We shall see.’
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