'We not talking about a f***** Rapist like Harvey Weinstein:' NYC's famed restaurateur Keith McNally serves up defense of Andrew Cuomo and blasts 'self-righteous hypocrites' who wanted the governor's 'head on a platter'
A renowned New York City restaurateur has slammed the public pressure that led to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's resignation, claiming the governor's actions didn't stack up to other prominent cases of sexual misconduct.
Keith McNally, 69, facetiously congratulated the 'self-righteous hypocrites' who wanted the governor's 'head on a platter' in an Instagram post Wednesday,
'Of course I don’t think sexual harassment is ok. But I hope that one of my 3 daughters would have to the strength of character to deal with it on the spot without turning herself into a victim,' McNally said.
'We not talking about a f***** Rapist like Harvey Weinstein. We’re talking about someone who, according to the state attorney general’s investigation engaged in….unwelcome and non-consensual behavior by touching and making numerous offensive COMMENTS of a suggestive and sexual nature.
Restaurateur Keith McNally, 69, has defended Gov. Andrew Cuomo's actions and called those who pressured him to resign this week 'self-righteous hypocrites'
McNally is known for his colorful commentary amid photos from his restaurants on Instagram
McNally opened the French restaurant and celebrity hotspot Balthazar in SoHo in 1997
'If he exhibited this behavior to one of my daughters I hope they would just say, “F*** OFF” and be done with it.'
Gov. Cuomo announced his resignation Tuesday after a report by Attorney General Letitia James detailed sexual harassment allegations from 11 women.
His alleged victims include former assistant Brittany Commisso, who filed a criminal complaint against the governor to the Albany Sheriff's Office.
In the AG report, she alleges Cuomo 'moved his hand to grab her butt cheek and began to rub it' for at least five seconds while they took a selfie in his mansion in December 2019.
McNallly also owns the Parisian Cafe Luxembourg in the Upper West Side of Manhattan
Cuomo announced his resignation Tuesday, paving the way for Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul to become New York's first woman governor on August 24
According to a report from the NY Attorney General, Cuomo harassed 11 women while in office
He then told her not to share the photo with anyone else, she said.
McNally owns the French restaurant Balthazar in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan.
The restaurant has been a staple of the downtown culinary scene, attracting figures like Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Nancy Pelosi when it reopened after the pandemic in March, according to The New York Times.
He's also opened restaurants Pastis, Café Luxembourg, and Minetta Tavern, among others, in Manhattanb.
The Times called him 'the restaurateur who invented downtown' in a 2004 profile that described his 'mordant sense of humor, delivered with a working-class British accent.'
His hyperactive Instagram is interspersed with frequent political news and commentary tucked between photos of burgers and smoked duck breast.
McNally frequently comments on current events in his hyperactive profile. In one post, he posted a photoshopped image of Prince Harry next to artist Yoko Ono
In one post, he shared a photoshopped image of Prince Harry with artist Yoko Ono, alluding to the idea that Harry's wife Meghan Markle is like Ono, whose relationship with John Lennon is often accused of breaking up the Beatles.
'Waiting for the annoyed comment section,' he mused.
His attitude spills into the Instagram profiles of unsuspecting users, like when he told one young woman she looked like 'a hooker' under a picture of her in SoHo, according to the Times.
McNally is also a defender of director Woody Allen, who has been accused of child molestation by his daughter Dylan and his former partner Mia Farrow, Dylan's mom.
'Woody Allen has never been charged with a crime. The Child Sexual Abuse Clinic of Yale–New Haven Hospital made a thorough investigation in 1992 and came to the conclusion that Allen had NOT sexually abused Dylan, and one possibility they raised was that Dylan may have been “coached” by her mother,' McNally told The Daily Beast in May.
'In my opinion, only one person in the world knows for certain whether or not Allen abused Dylan. And I believe him.'
Wednesday's post is not his first time defending the disgraced governor of New York.
On Saturday, he said Cuomo's actions were tame compared to those of past canonized leaders.
'George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F Kennedy were all womanizers,' he said.
'(Nixon and Hitler were not.) For many years the Giant of a politician, Franklin D. Roosevelt was f****** his secretary while married. In today's world Roosevelt would be crucified by the two thirds of the press and forced to resign.'