Boston Mayor Michelle Wu (D) is catching heat for jokes made at Boston’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast this past Sunday which appeared to malign her political opponents for being “white.” Critics are saying that Wu’s jokes are racist and unbefitting of a public official.
Wu, elected last November, instituted several vaccine and mask mandates for Boston’s city employees and various businesses this past winter.
Immediately, those mandates drew protests from hundreds of people including the Boston First Responders United, a group of local first responders. As The Daily Wire previously reported, Wu implied those protesters were driven out of hatred, fear, and confusion.
On Saturday at the St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast, Wu joked that her first few months in office have not been easy thanks to those supposedly prejudiced protesters.
“This past winter was pretty intense, trial by snow, trial by firefighters union,” Wu said at the breakfast.
“I’m getting used to dealing with problems that are expensive, disruptive, and white – I’m talking about snowflakes, snowstorms, snowflakes!” Wu said to stuttered laughter.
Wu went on to take a jab at a Massachusetts Republican candidate for governor, Geoff Diehl, implying that his policies would regress the state backward.
“I will say though jumping forward an hour isn’t easy, but it is better than Geoff Diehl’s proposal that we make him governor and set us all back 50 years,” Wu joked, according to Boston 25.
In reaction popular Twitter account “Libs of Tik Tok” tweeted, “Boston Mayor thinks it’s okay to be racist to white people. Disgusting[.]”
“I’m getting used to dealing with problems that are expensive, disruptive and white”
Boston Mayor thinks it’s okay to be racist to white people. Disgusting pic.twitter.com/Ky5Lnd5SUN
— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) March 21, 2022
The Boston First Responders United, an area group of Boston first responders opposed too mandates, tweeted, ” #Boston, @MayorWu has finally shown her true colors. This isn’t funny. This is disgusting.”
“I’m getting used to dealing w problems that are expensive, disruptive & White”. -Boston Mayor Michelle Wu
#Boston, @MayorWu has finally shown her true colors.
This isn’t funny. This is disgusting. #ShameOnWu @CotterReporter @TuckerCarlson @HowieCarrShow @DoctorTurtleboy pic.twitter.com/eFTWomIH3O
— Boston First Responders United (BFRU) (@BostonFRU) March 20, 2022
Wu also took aim at protesters who have been outside of her home nearly every morning since the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, The Daily Caller noted:
“I am proud to be the first mom to be elected to this office in Boston. It comes with the good and the bad. This morning I woke up once again to the sound of children throwing a tantrum,” she said of protesters outside her home. “They’re banging drums, blowing whistles, and shouting on their megaphones that I have to stop being a woke millennial. I agree. At the crack of dawn, I’d much rather be a sleeping millennial.”
A recently highly-circulated video showed a taste of what Wu has dealt with outside of her residence as Boston moms and parents have demanded an end to the mandates:
“Good morning, Mayor Wu!” one protester can be heard in a very thick Boston accent. That video can be seen here:
Omg. These people have been outside Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s house every morning demanding she unmask the kids: pic.twitter.com/nVFVMzg90h
— Tim Meads (@TimMeadsUSA) February 23, 2022
On the day Wu announced the mandates from city hall, a number of protesters sang the national anthem and chanted “U-S-A!” as she held her press conference.
In response to those individuals, Wu implied the anti-mandate protesters were “racist,” The Daily Wire reported in December:
“I’ve grown up my whole life knowing what it feels like to feel invisible or othered, and this is an experience that far too many Americans share,” Wu told GBH. “Standing at the podium, hearing the demonstrators who were opposing our policies singing patriotic songs and chanting ‘USA’ — the message was clear that we don’t belong here in their eyes, and shouldn’t be trying to take away something that they perceive they have and are losing.”
[…]
“It’s a very sad situation,” she continued. “Because we’ve gotten so far from the American values that brought my family and so many families here, amidst tremendous sacrifice, to be part of this special place.”
Wu also said that it was wrong for protesters to equate being anti-vax with being patriotic.
“There is still a part of our society, even in this state, even in this city, that really feels like something is being taken away from them,” Wu also said. “That is based in misinformation, it’s based in, I think at some level, hatred, and fear and confusion.”
Wu is the first non-white, female Boston mayor in the city’s history.