Congressman Steve Israel (D-Dix Hills) has joined in the backlash stemming from the new Bravo reality television show “Princesses: Long Island.”
In a recent editorial for the online news aggregate Huffington Post’s New York page that was submitted to Blank Slate Media this week as a letter to the editor, Israel criticized the show for what he described as its “gross generalizations about the living and dating habits of unmarried Jewish women.”
Israel, who represents New York’s 3rd District that encompasses much of Nassau County’s North Shore and serves as the primary setting for “Princesses,” wrote that the show’s stars, who come from affluent families of Jewish descent, “are disgraceful, misleading, and fuel anti-Semitic stereotypes” and “portray both Jews and Long Islanders in the most unflattering light possible.”
“Therefore, I will not silently tolerate a show that paints Jewish women on Long Island will all-too-familiar and painful stereotypes – money-hungry, superficial, Jewish-American Princesses,” Israel wrote. “The characters on the show are welcome to live their lives however they may choose, but I don’t want viewers of the show to think that they are, in any way, representative of Jews or Long Islanders.”
Bravo later issued a statement, saying “‘Princesses: Long Island’ is a show about six women who are young, educated, single and Jewish living in Long Island, and is not meant to represent all Jewish women or other residents of Long Island.”
“Princesses” debuted June 2 to 1.24 million viewers, according to Nielsen data, and has steadily declined since, from close to 900,000 viewers on June 9 to 780,000 on June 16.
But the show drew controversy even in its premiere, after cast member Ashlee White, 30, of Roslyn, made disparaging remarks over the phone to her father as she drove through Freeport to meet another cast member, Joey Lauren Brodish.
Freeport residents were reportedly furious over the remarks and one created a Facebook page boycotting the show.
At press time, the Facebook page had 4,961 likes.
