Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa showed up to judge the Feast of San Gennaro’s meatball eating contest — only to be told he was “too political” to appear on stage, he claimed in a Facebook video recorded at the event on Sunday.
Speaking from the back of the festival’s fifth annual meatball contest, Sliwa claimed he had been “banned” from the contest and suggested Mayor Bill de Blasio or his longtime foes in the Gambino crime family could be behind organizers not letting him on stage.
“I was invited as a guest judge,” Sliwa claimed. “Then I was told, ‘Hey, not for nothing, Sliwa, it’s just too political. Other politicians had to be up here on the stage for you to be on the stage.’
“Was this comrade Bill de Blasio — the part-time mayor, the dope from Park Slope, the wannabe Italian, the fugazi Italian — who hates Italians?… That’s one choice,” he said, smirking.
“Was it the members of the Gambino crime family, or was it so nefarious that it was the Deep State when it comes to eating contests, that have denied me competitive eating championships in the past because of my background, my religion, my ideology.”
The Guardian Angels founder ticked off a long list of eating contests in which he’s competed — including the 1996 Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, a matzoh ball eating contest at the now-closed Ben’s Deli in Queens, and a “sour garlic pickle” eating contest he said he’d won four years in a row.
Of other politicians, Sliwa asked, “When have they ever competed in a competitive eating contest?
“One of the guys up there mentioned my name, they cut off his microphone,” Sliwa said. “This is not Red China, Cuba or Venezuela. So guess what? I’ll have my meatballs later on and beat whatever these competitors are able to eat today. To be continued.”
A woman who answered a phone call to the number listed for meatball eating contestants said she was unaware of any incident.
“I am not aware of that,” the woman, who said she was with the San Gennaro production team, said when asked about Sliwa’s claims. “That’s not something that was relayed to me, so I don’t have an answer for that.”
For his part, Sliwa forwarded The Post a screenshot of an email from Victor Colicchio inviting Sliwa “to host, attend or eat as many meatballs as he wants lol.”
“We will see to it that Curtis is the main host & judge and allow him all the time he needs to get his message across,” the email said.
Colicchio did not respond to a request for comment.
