By Olivia Scheck and Jill Colvin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Mayor Michael Bloomberg received a sobering response to a joke he made at the American Irish Historical Society Wednesday night.
Playing on the stereotype that Irish people are heavy drinkers, the mayor joked that he often sees intoxicated people hanging out the club's windows on Fifth Avenue and East 80th Street.
"I live in the neighborhood, right around the corner," the mayor said, addressing the crowd, according to an audio recording provided on the New York Times website.
"Normally, when I walk by this building, there are a bunch of people that are totally inebriated hanging out the window waving. I know that's a stereotype about the Irish, but nevertheless, we Jews around the corner think this."
Attendees of the event, celebrating the release of a book about the 250th Anniversary of the St. Patrick's Day Parade, responded to the joke with a combination of boos, jeers and hysterical laughter, according to the recording.
But John Dunleavy, chairman of the St. Patrick's Day Parade, did not reportedly believe it was a laughing matter.
"I don't think he would say a joke like that to any other ethnic group. It was totally uncalled for and unbecoming of the mayor," told the New York Daily News. "The remarks are highly, highly offensive to any Irish person."
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn also criticized the mayor, calling the joke "surprising and inappropriate," according to the paper.
But the mayor defended his remarks, insisting that they were not meant to be offensive and clarifying that he was only referring to St. Patrick's Day.
"I certainly didn't mean anything that anybody should take offense to," the mayor said at an unrelated press conference on Thursday.
"I was talking about a party they have every year on the St. Patrick's day, where it's sort of a traditional to hang out the window and yell and scream. And it's in good fun.
"I just wish that I didn't have to march in the parade. I'd rather be up there with them, particularly when it's cold," the mayor added.
