News Americas, BROOKLYN, NY, Weds. July 13, 2011: The Jamaican-born deputy borough president of Brooklyn has slammed the New York Daily News paper.
Yvonne Graham, in a letter to the paper, condemned what she called an “inflammatory statement.” Graham’s reaction came following an article that appeared in the paper on Sunday that quoted a customer of the fames Red Rooster restaurant in Harlem as saying questioning why “dirty jerk chicken joints in Flatbush get A’s” and Marcus Samuelson’s restaurant got a C from health inspectors.
The article titled: “Top Chef Marcus Samuelsson’s Harlem restaurant Red Rooster gets C-rating, but customers still return,” cited Adrian Perry, an investment banker, as making the comment. It was not an op-ed piece by the paper.
Perry’s full quote was: “The Martha Stewarts, Bill Clintons and Tyra Banks of the world eat here,” said investment banker Adrian Perry, 35. “If this is a C, then how do dirty jerk chicken joints in Flatbush get A’s? This place has a brand-new kitchen. I’ve seen it.”
However, Graham claims “The Daily News owes an apology to Caribbean restaurants and their owners for allowing this type of slanted commentary to become a part of the larger dialogue.”
“Statements such as these are the very thing that continues to divide us, that casts unfavorable images in our minds, and cannot and should not be supported by media outlets such as the Daily News,” she added, slamming the quote as an “elitist, prejudicial assumption that “jerk chicken joints in Flatbush” are undeserving of an “A.”
Brooklyn Borough President, Marty Markowitz, along with other elected officials are set to host a press conference on the steps of Borough Hall Thursday at 11:30 a.m. to condemn the article and “ensure that these kinds of statements do not hurt our businesses which are the backbone of our communities.”
