Former Minnesota Democratic senator and comedian Al Franken mocked New York City’s most recent attempt to rebrand itself by replacing its classic motto with a new one.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that city’s motto, "I Heart NY," would change to "We Heart NYC," breaking with 45 years of tradition.
"No one will ever beat New Yorkers. And we took the 'I' out of ‘We love New York,’ and we brought the ‘we,’ Adams said in a speech Monday.
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"We're in this together," the mayor declared. He also explained that the new branding was an attempt to encourage New Yorkers after "COVID devastated us."
"That’s right, it’s not ‘I’ anymore, it’s ‘we,’ Franken said Tuesday night in his role as guest host for the "Daily Show."
"As in, ‘we can’t afford rent,’" he joked to cheers in the audience.
"Or, ‘we just got pushed in front of the subway.’ Or ‘we just pushed someone in front of the subway,’" Franken quipped, referencing crime in the Big Apple.
Adams, a former captain in the New York City police force, has vowed to fight crime in the city. He even told CNN in an interview that the crime rate was low in the city.
"All of our index crimes are low, low for the entire year. We are focused on public safety because people want to be safe. They don't feel safe. And they actually say then you're going to lose control of your city," Adams said.
Franken added a few other joke options for the New York City logo.
"But if you're wondering how they got this incredible new slogan, I actually have some of the runner ups here. Let’s see, some of the other options were, ‘We love Jew York.’ Okay. ‘Jew York, Jew York.’ ‘Start spreading the Jews.’ And then they told Kanye to leave the meeting. And that’s when they settled on 'We love New York City.'"
Some outlets also joined in on the fun and reported a rocky response to New York City’s newest motto.
The New York Times covered the backlash in a story from Tuesday.
"Promoters said the campaign, which draws on a successful tourism slogan from the 1970s, was aimed at cutting through pandemic-era negativity. So far, it’s getting rough reviews," the paper wrote.
The Independent wrote that New Yorkers were "outraged" by the logo change in a story Tuesday.
Fox News’ Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
