Rich mom accused of throwing bigoted party by NY fireman denies being racist — then admits ‘blatantly racist’ tweets
The wealthy upstate woman accused of throwing a racist Juneteenth party attempted to defend herself at a bizarre press conference Tuesday, insisting the event was meant to mock liberals — not black people — but admitting to being racist on Twitter.
Mary Nicosia, who is white, set off a firestorm in Rochester, NY after reportedly decoratinꦆg her lawn w🎉ith buckets of Kentucky Fried Chicken for a Juneteenth party where she served Hennessy.
A black firefighter, Jerrod Jones, filed a notice to sue the city and its fire department earlier this month because his boss, Capt. Jeffrey Krywy, took him to Nicosia’s party while he was on duty. Krywy faced termination proceedings over the incident, but retired before he could be investigated.
A defiant Nicosia called the press conference Tuesday to address the suit, saying “I’m here to defend myself from false claims of racism.”
She then stunned theꦡ room with her subsequent comment.
“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,” she confessed.
The mom of two said the racist tweets were all part of “the culture of Twitter” — even claiming it was “part of its charm.” It’s unclear what she tweeted and what account she was referencing.
Twitter users accused her of posting under the handle “@HoHoHomeboyROC,” but Nicosia would not say at the press conference if the account was hers.
“For these comments, I’d like to apologize to the African American community, and for other people in the community I have hurt or offended by doing what I was doing on Twitter,” she said.
Nicosia’s lawyer, Corey Hogan, displayed the invitation for the party at the presser in an effort to absolve his client of racism, saying it was called the “1st annual Liberal Smashin Splish Splash Pool Party.”
Hogan insisted it was intended to mock liberals, and was about politics, not race, and claimed the KFC buckets were not intended to hold meaning. Most of the decorations, he said, were meant to be “liberal bashing.”
He did, however, say h꧋er online presence was prejudiced.
“No question, you look at her Twitter account — yup, that’s racist,” the lawyer told reporters, adding, “there’s no justification for it.”
Yet, Hogan contradicted himself during the presser, saying, “I challenge you, the press — look into their background, find anything in their lives, their 50-plus-year lives, that’s racist.”
His comments sparked questions from confused reporters as he denied Nicosia “has a racist bone in her body” — while outwardly admitting she posted vile comments online.
Nicosia spent much of her time at the mic complaining about the cruelty of cancel culture, saying she’s suffered since Jones announced his suit.
The mom teared up about the “unbearable pain” caused to her and her family by the lawsuit by Jones, noting how she was suspended from the board of the Landmark Society of Western New York.
“To see our entire world collapse in a matter of hours was bewildering, it was like a bad dream,” she complained.
“But nonetheless, I hold myself accountable and I’m ashamed … I ask that you accept my apology. It is sincere,” she added.
Hogan added that his client “doesn’t live her life — how she treats other human beings” in the same way as her secret account, which is “racist, wrong and vile,” he said, adding there may have been more than one racist account.
But he said, “There is no question that somebody who has a racist Twitter account, which Mary did, is … going to be somewhat aware, I guess, of these racial tropes” that the disgusted firefighter had claimed filled their home during the Juneteenth bash.
Nicosia’s husband, Dr. Nicholas Nicosia, also spoke, insisting that “there’s been nothing with any interaction with us that would even suggest that we’re racist.”
Instead, he complained, it was “cancel culture” — calling it “an organized, malicious, well-orchestrated, politically charged attack” motivated in part because they were seen as a “snooty couple that lives in a big mansion.”
“It took me 32 years to build my reputation, and less than two hours to destroy it,” he sniffed.
