I’ll cop to it right now: yes, as a born and bred Long Islander, I am watching the trainwreck that is Jersey Shore with a combination of horror, amusement and a decent sized dash of “there but for the grace of God go I.”
The Daily Show annoyingly pegged the relationship between Long Island and Jersey as conjoined twins dead on. Jersey Shore could easily be taking place in any number of towns and villages a stone’s throw from my hometown of Babylon- and the most viral clip from the show “stars” a violent goombah thug type from one of the next towns over, Deer Park. Thank you, Brad Ferro, for making the connection the rest of us have been violently trying to shake off since the show began airing and giving Jersey Shore a verifiable Long Island connection by punching Snooki/Snookie in the face.
It’s a conundrum for feminists everywhere, because no one wants to see a girl sucker punched in a sleazy club, but if you want to see one girl punched, it’s this one. Tanned and teased and nasal, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi is a self-styled Italian-American princess drama queen. Snooki dominated the first episodes of the show with a contrived dramatic episode about leaving the house. The clip also presents an interesting dilemma for MTV- Snooki/Snookie getting punched in the face is the most sought out clip from the show, but advertisers don’t want to be involved with the controversial episode. The clip has been virtually scrubbed from the internet, and MTV decided finally not to air the assault despite the ratings draw:
“What happened to “Snooki” was a crime and obviously extremely disturbing,” said an MTV spokesman in a statement. “After hearing from our viewers, further consulting with experts on the issue of violence, and seeing how the video footage has been taken out of context to not show the severity of this act or the resulting consequences, MTV has decided not to air Snooki being physically punched in next week’s episode. The show will still make it clear what events transpired, including the full aftermath.”
The animated GIF above seems to be the only available footage of the event. Snooki/Snookie sustained “an injury to the inside of her mouth” from the assault.
