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Andrew Yang Enraged New Yorkers By Saying That His Favorite MTA Subway Stop Was Times Square

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For a while, Andrew Yang’s run for mayor of New York City was going better than his run for president of the United States. He’s been slipping in the polls, which he once consistently topped. His instantly notorious appearance with comedian Ziwe isn’t helping — and the full episode hasn’t even dropped yet. The host has been releasing clips from Yang’s forthcoming appearance on her Showtime show, and they’re not flattering. First he massively flubbed a Jay-Z question. Now he’s enraged New Yorkers over his basic take on the subway system.

Ziwe — whose shtick involves pretending to be a too-online internet addict who asks deceptively simple questions that often get her guests in trouble — had a seemingly straightforward query for her latest guest: “What’s your favorite subway station?” To be fair, it’s an odd question, even as a joke. Many who live in NYC probably have no favorite station, the MTA being a necessary evil that’s often the source of long waits, overcrowded spaces, and, in the summer, crippling levels of heat.

And yet Yang’s answer was bizarre. “It’s my stop, so Times Square,” replied Yang, who took heat for leaving the city during the pandemic. “It’s big, it’s cavernous, there are entertainers there. Sure, like, what’s not to like?”

There’s a lot not to like, many said over social media. For one thing, like his Jay-Z question — in which he struggled to come up with a favorite song — it’s clear he was stumped. But his answer, when it belatedly arrived, left a lot to be desired. Times Square is an incredibly basic answer, probably the only station most tourists could name.

And so many called him out for not seeming like a real New Yorker — a problem if he wants to be the city’s mayor.

Some, though, said his answer could have been worse.

Others defended his choice, pointing to the station’s size, its diversity, its artwork.

It also inspired locals to name their own favorite stops.

Although others instead named the worst ones.

Will Yang’s appearance with Ziwe put the final nail in a campaign that’s fallen on hard times? Probably not. It won’t help, though, and after dominating the polls for so long, he’s recently slipped to second place behind former police officer Eric Adams, though he’s still ahead of longtime locals Scott Stringer, Kathryn Garcia, and Dianne Morales. None of them, of course, would list Times Square — overrun by tourists and people dressed up as Marvel heroes and eye-piercing adverts and questionable eateries — as the best of anything the world’s greatest city has to offer.