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Ariana Baio
Jan 30, 2023
Eagles fan surfs through Philly streets after playoff win
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Green and white lights illuminated the top of the Empire State Building Sunday night, much to the dismay of New Yorkers.
The sparkling lights represented a win for the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship game.
With the NFL team headed to the Super Bowl, the Empire State Building somehow thought it might be nice to honor them with lights.
“FlyEagles Fly! We’re going Green and White in honor of the Eagles NFC Championship Victory,” the Empire State Building account tweeted on Sunday.
But New Yorkers did not take kindly to the Empire State Building’s light show.
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The Eagles are longtime rivals of the New York Giants and there is almost never a situation where Giants fans would root for the Philly team.
Barstool founder Dave Portnoy responded to the building’s tweet saying, “How lame is the Empire State Building? Lighting up a NY building in the colors of a NFC East rival? What an absolute piece of s*** building. I’d be embarrassed to have it in my city. They should knock it down.”
\u201cFly @Eagles Fly! We\u2019re going Green and White in honor of the Eagles NFC Championship Victory.\u201d— Empire State Building (@Empire State Building) 1675034279
The aggressive attitude toward the building did not end there as other people found it highly offensive that it chose to honor the Eagles.
\u201c@EmpireStateBldg @Eagles\u201d— Empire State Building (@Empire State Building) 1675034279
\u201c@EmpireStateBldg @Eagles Every New Yorker seeing this\u201d— Empire State Building (@Empire State Building) 1675034279
\u201c@EmpireStateBldg @Eagles what is this\u201d— Empire State Building (@Empire State Building) 1675034279
\u201cHow are we going to explain this to all of the other buildings. They looked up to you.\u201d— NYC Buildings (@NYC Buildings) 1675038785
Notable New York City politicians, including former mayor Rudy Giuliani, managed to put their political differences aside to condemn the building for showing off the Eagles' team colors.
\u201cOk, hear me out...\n\nPartisan politics aside\u2014New Yorkers know I'd NEVER let this "fly" as Mayor.\n\nThe only excuse (still unacceptable) is if they had these lights prepared for the Jets and just got tired of waiting for the opportunity to use them.\n\nGo @Giants! \n\n#NYCwiththeMayor\u201d— Rudy W. Giuliani (@Rudy W. Giuliani) 1675054755
\u201c@EmpireStateBldg eh this ain't it\u201d— Empire State Building (@Empire State Building) 1675034279
"A Local Law to amend the New York city charter and the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to this never happening again," Councilman Justin Brannan added.
\u201cPlease tell me this is because someone\u00a0who controls the Empire State Building lost a tremendously stupid bet.\u201d— Lee Zeldin (@Lee Zeldin) 1675047750
\u201cAs the representative for the Empire State Building, and a diehard Giants fan, let me be on the record saying that this is absolutely ridiculous. \u2b07\ufe0f\u201d— Keith Powers (@Keith Powers) 1675036689
Even the New York Sanitation Department felt offended by the lights.
\u201cFor anyone who finds this as treacherous, traitorous, and unforgivable as we do - just pretend it's green and white for #NewYorksStrongest. We take out the trash every day...and next year, that'll include the Eagles.\u201d— NYC Sanitation (@NYC Sanitation) 1675040084
Following the slew of backlash, the Empire State Building decided to then honor the Kansas City Chiefs by making the building red and gold.
"That hurt us more than it hurt you," the Empire State Building wrote. "We’re now lit for the [Kansas City Chiefs] in honor of their AFC Championship Win."
Lesson learned: don't mess with New Yorkers.
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