Actor Liam Neeson told “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart on Wednesday night that he was “pissed off” at the mayor.
Credit: Screenshot of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”
Actor Liam Neeson had some choice words for Mayor Bill de Blasio about the new mayor’s efforts to ban horse-drawn carriages in New York.
Neeson appeared on the “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” Wednesday night to promote a new movie, but spent the latter part of the interview lambasting de Blasio.
“I’m a little bit pissed off at our elected new mayor,” Neeson told Stewart. “He wants to close this horse and carriage industry in New York. There was a poll last week: Over 60 percent of New Yorkers want to keep the horse carriage industry in Central Park.”
The actor insisted that the de Blasio administration was not willing to compromise on the ban, which carriage proponents argue would hurt local tourism and kill jobs.
“He won’t even take a meeting with the horse carriage industry,” Neeson said. “He is supposed to be representing the New York people.”
A January Quinnipiac University poll did find a majority of New Yorkers opposed a ban. And yet the mayor’s rhetoric on the ban continues, despite the proposal having been stalled in the City Council.
De Blasio campaigned on a promise to get rid of the horse-drawn carriages, having received a significant fundraising boost from animal rights activists who call the industry abusive to the animals.
The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but this marks the second celebrity within the last week to quibble with the de Blasio administration’s decisions.
Only this week did de Blasio bury the hatchet with “Today” show weatherman Al Roker after the longtime NBC personality took the mayor to task on Twitter for keeping schools open during a recent snowstorm.
While Roker and de Blasio made peace with a handshake and a selfie, that particular executive decision also irked Neeson.
“He made my kids go to school in all that snow,” Neeson told Stewart.
Here’s the full interview:
Follow Chester Jesus Soria on Twitter @chestersoria
