Anthony T. Constantino, the Trump-endorsed Republican candidate for Congress in New York’s 21st Congressional District, is facing criticism for using an offensive slur in a recently resurfaced internet video filmed with a disabled comedian.
In a video released on Aug. 10 of 2024, Constantino appears with comedian Ricky Berwick, who is pulling stickers off of a sheet. Those stickers are designed as passes ostensibly giving the bearer the right to say the word “retarded.” Berwick tells Constantino he’s making “retard passes”.
“Dude, I just made you new CEO, you’re supposed to do important st,” Constantino responds in the video.
Berwick shouts the slur again, throwing a sticker at Constantino.
“Dude, that’s retarded, why did I even make you CEO,” Constantino retorts in the comedic skit.
The 31 second video appears to be filmed at Constantino’s Sticker Mule factory in Amsterdam, Montgomery County. Berwick, a Canadian comedian, has Beals-Hecht syndrome which affects his physical appearance, but is not known to affect cognition or learning.
The video was posted before Constantino launched his campaign for Congress. The video was briefly brought up in Constantino’s primary campaign against Assemblyman Robert J. Smullen, R-Meco, where Smullen criticized Constantino for using the word and said it indicated Constantino has a poor character.
On Friday, the Northern Regional Center for Independent Living issued a statement denouncing the video and the use of the slur, without directly naming Constantino or Berwick.
“This kind of rhetoric is not harmless humor — it is a direct attack on the dignity of millions of Americans with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and on their families, caregivers and communities,” NRCIL said in a statement attributed to the group’s staff and board of directors.
The group said that the use of the word, and joking about providing “passes” to use the slur, reflects a broader trend in politics and culture where cruelty towards people with disabilities has become a point of entertainment.
The group called on Constantino to apologize, retract the video, refrain from using it or other slurs against disabled people in the future, commit to using dignified language and engage with disabled people and advocates for them to understand the impact of that word on others.
On Monday, the New York Association on Independent Living and its member Independent Living Centers in the north country, which includes NRCIL, issued a joint statement directly asking Constantino to remove the video.
“This is not an issue of Democrats versus Republicans. Anyone seeking public office must be held to a higher standard and held accountable for using harmful language about people with disabilities,” said NYAIL Executive Director Lindsay Miller.
The other ILCs in the 21st Congressional District including the Utica Resource Center for Independent Living and the Massena Maximizing Independent Living Choices center also chimed in.
“As the old saying goes – any press is good press when you want people to notice you,” said Jeff Reifensnyder, executive director of Maximizing Independent Living Choices. “But there has to be a limit and what these two did with their ‘pass card to say retard’ video is more than uncool. It is offensive 5th grader level meanness no decent adult would find remotely acceptable or funny. Nor want to hand either of them a ‘pass’ for doing.“
A representative for Berwick did not respond to a request for comment. Constantino’s campaign did not respond directly to a request for comment either.