Gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon showed up at annual dinner where journalists blast Albany politicians and she took hard swings at the sitting governor who she hopes to unseat.
The former “Sex and the City” actress drew cheers and laughter by referencing a scandalous 1970s campaign stunt that opponents have tried tying to Andrew Cuomo for years. He was running his dad’s 1977 campaign for mayor when signs were plastered all over the subway, urging voters to “Vote for Cuomo, not the homo.”
Andrew Cuomo has repeatedly denied involvement in the stunt pitting his dad against late, Mayor Ed Koch, who faced rumors — that he denied — of being gay.
“Vote for the homo, not Cuomo,” said Nixon, who is lesbian, flipping the slogan in her favor during a stand-up rebuttal to the Legislative Correspondents Association show Tuesday night.
A n earlier skit that mockingly highlighted a new ficticious Department of Environmental Conservation program for “catch and release” of unqualified lesbians “back into the wilds of Vermont” drew laughter from the progressive and her crew.
Nixon has seized on criticism from Cuomo backer and former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn that criticized the actress as an “unqualified lesbian.”
Nixon took the stage to smack Cuomo, saying “it’s OK to come out as you are,” she said, after describing the pain of hiding homosexuality and insinuating that the governor is a closet Republican.
She brought up campaign insults that she was a “prosecco-sipping Manhattanite.”
“You see Andrew is not a big fan of prosecco,” she said. “He seems to prefer Percoco because it goes better with Ziti.”
That zinger referenced the recent corruption conviction of Cuomo aide Joesph Percoco who referred to pay-to-play payoffs as ziti.
Nixon, who wants to legalize pot and said she smoked it twice crowed about being criticized for not smoking it more. She then added that Cuomo would soon be smoking marijuana in a campaign commercial but last year was “talking like a dad from the the 70s.”
“He called it a gateway drug,” she deadpanned.
“Before this election is over he’ll be protesting his own administration,” she added.