Staten Island Residents Are Trying To Cancel MTV's New Reality Show "Made In Staten Island" Because They Say It Makes Them Look Like Trash

Source - On Monday night, MTV cracked the proverbial champagne bottle over “Made in Staten Island,” a new series following a handful of young adults from the New York borough. The reality TV show follows the gritty struggle of the featured characters as they try to break away from family connections with organized crime. The show’s trailer hints at a true-life “Sopranos” vibe.

But that portrayal is not sitting well with everyone. Last week, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted out his complaints about the program.

The mayor is not alone. A Change.org petition launched last month is asking MTV to cancel the show because of the way Staten Island is depicted. The petition accuses the show of pushing a “portrayal of Staten Island as a cesspool of gangsters, meatheads and low lives.”

“It is built on the premise that kids from Staten Island all grow up surrounded by the mafia in their lives,” the petition states. “This is far from the truth.”

As of early Monday, the petition had racked up more than 7,700 signatures online. The petition is aiming to collect 10,000 names.

Yikes. I didn’t watch the show, but I did watch this clip MTV put out of the cast members explaining “NYC slang” and I can’t say I disagree.

It’s no fault of their own, MTV has a history finding young people with disgusting distinct accents and using them to its advantage. They did it in Jersey Shore, they did it in Buck Wild, they did it in Floribama Shore and for the most part it works…for them. So, it’s no surprise the residents of Staten Island are upset. But to say it’s the show that’s making them look bad is a bit of a stretch. I’d say it’s more “the people” who are making them look bad. The Island doesn’t exactly have the best reputation either. It’s like the Lynn of the five boroughs- the only time you hear about it is when something bad happens. Even the people from there don’t have anything nice to say.

Although according to this article, the biggest issue residents of Staten Island have with the show isn’t the cast members, it’s the alleged glorification of the mafia.

“Made in Staten Island” — shot in dramatic black-and-white footage — does have some Mafia bona fides. According to SILive.com, the program is being produced by Karen Gravano. A star of VH1?s “Mob Wives,” Gravano is the daughter of Salvatore Gravano, the former mob hit man nicknamed “Sammy the Bull” whose testimony helped put away John Gotti and 36 other members of New York’s organized crime families.

Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t. The fact of the matter is that the people of Staten Island hate the show and they’re doing something about it. Good for them. Chances are they won’t even have to raise the number of signatures necessary to get the show cancelled because it’ll be cancelled on its own.