If any publicity is good publicity, New York Assemblyman Harvey Epstein hit the jackpot Saturday night when John Mulaney portrayed him in a fake political ad on Saturday Night Live. (The same SNL that saw a cameo from none other then Kamala Harris.)
In case you missed it, the crux of the joke was that Epstein, who’s currently running for City Council in New York City, happens to share both a first and last name with two of the city’s nost notorious sex criminals: Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein.
“Look, is my name ideal? Of course not.” said Mulaney-as-Epstein in SNL‘s fake ad. “But thankfully I’m a different guy.”
The same is true of the real Harvey Epstein, who as Assemblyman for New York’s 74th district represents parts of the Lower East Side, East Village, and Midtown East neighborhoods of Manhattan. As a candidate for City Council, he has promised to tackle the city’s housing crisis, increase mental health care access amd eductation funding, and fight for the rights of people with disabilities.
“I’m not going to lie,” the fake Epstein said on SNL. “The name thing has become a bit of an issue. ‘Harvey’ I could almost handle. But ‘Epstein’—this thing is an albatross.”
Unlike his SNL doppelgänger (Mulaney wore a bald cap to portray him ), Epstein does not reference his unfortunate name in his campaign materials. But he might consider adding this line from the sketch as the election hits its final stretch:
“Think of it this way. If my names are this bad and I’m still running for public office, think of how much better I’d have to be than everybody else. That’s just math.”
Will Epstein see an SNL bump when election results come in? It’ll be another year before we find out. New York’s City Council election won’t be held til November 2025.
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