The wealthy white woman who hosted a Kentucky Fried Chicken-serving “Juneteenth Party” in her home to mock Black people and Democratic politicians called a press conference to clear her family’s name. However, instead of convincing people she and her husband were not bigots, she admitted to making racially charged and offensive posts on Twitter.
Maria Znidarsic-Nicosia was livid when a firefighter spoke out against the private party she hosted on her Rochester, New York, property. On Tuesday, Aug. 23, she hosted a news conference at a Hilton Garden Inn in the Rochester suburb of Pittsford, to set the record straight and address the lawsuit filed by the civil worker.
Jerrod Jones, a 40-year-old Black Rochester firefighter, filed a $4 million lawsuit against the City of Rochester and the police force after his superior took him to the woman’s party.
The lawsuit stated his former-Captain Jeffrey Krywy took him and two other colleagues, McKenzie ‘Mack’ Neal, and Aurelio ‘Angel’ Perez who were on duty, to a gathering at the Nicosia estate on East Avenue on Thursday, July 7.
He alleges party was overtly racist and had a menu of Kentucky Fried Chicken, bottles of Hennessy cognac, Donald Trump cut-outs, and Juneteenth-themed signs and party favors.
Nicosias released a statement about the gathering after the lawsuit was announced and the captain resigned from his post.
The couple’s first remarks on the lawsuit called it an “unfortunate misconstrued portrayal of our family by uninvited guests to our home.”
At the Tuesday press conference, the socialite said, “I’m here to defend myself from false claims of racism.”
“But before I do that, in full disclosure, I do have a Twitter parody account that operates under a veil of a persona — and I have made blatantly racist comments under that persona,” she continued.
“And for these comments, I’d like to apologize to the African American community and other people in the community that I have hurt or offended by doing what I was doing on Twitter,” she shared.
While she did not share the name on the account, she did apologize for the statements and vowed to distance herself from the online identity that she created.
“The past 12 difficult days that I’ve been through, I’ve learned a lot. And I’ve learned that making a comment under a persona on Twitter is just as wrong and hurts just as much as saying it directly to someone in the room. And I think it’s a lesson learned certainly for me, and I think others can learn from the lesson,” she said.
“I’m not a racist person,” she went on. “I grew up in East Cleveland. Very diverse community. And I would challenge you that you would find anyone in the community that would tell you that I am. Nonetheless, I hold myself accountable. I’m ashamed. This wasn’t an easy thing to do, to get up here and tell you this. And I ask that you accept my apology, as it is sincere.”
Corey Hogan, the woman’s lawyer, addressed the party at the center of the firefighter’s claim.
They argued it was not a mock “Juneteenth Party,” but the “1st annual Liberal Smashin Splish Splash Pool Party,” designed to poke fun at left-leaning politicians.
Hogan added the inclusion of KFC buckets of chicken was not racial in tone.
“There was no hint of racism,” Hogan told reporters. “Kentucky Fried Chicken? There are 27,000 franchises of Kentucky Fried Chicken around the world. Four thousand in this country. Is everybody that pulls into a Kentucky Fried Chicken, like the Nicosias do probably every couple of weeks, are they a racist?”
“Hennessy cognac,” the lawyer added. “Millions, I think about 70 million bottles sold every year. It has a racial undertone to it. The Nicosias knew nothing about it. It was given away, a small bottle, as a prize. No racism.”
Znidarsic-Nicosia says the fact the brand has been used to demean Blacks, in certain racist spaces and on the alleged Twitter account is only coincidental.
“I’m aware of the perception of KFC. Was that the reason it is was in my home?” she said. “No. It was an easy meal.”
The lawyer challenged the media to “Look into their background, find anything in their lives, their 50-plus-year lives, that’s racist.”
He added Znidarsic-Nicosia did not have “a racist bone in her body,” despite her saying she gets in the Twitter mud and plays racist behind firewalls.
According to the New York Post, reporters were confused by the contradictory messaging — both denying and admitting to bigotry — from the woman and her attorney during the news conference.
The wife and mother said as a result of the firefighter misrepresenting her party and filing the lawsuit against the municipality and department, she said she was suspended from the board of the Landmark Society of Western New York.
Woefully, she started, “To see our entire world collapse in a matter of hours was bewildering, it was like a bad dream.”
“But nonetheless, I hold myself accountable and I’m ashamed … I ask that you accept my apology. It is sincere,” she begged.
Distancing his client from the Twitter account, Hogan says Nicosia “doesn’t live her life — how she treats other human beings” as suggested by her secret account. He called the account, “racist, wrong and vile.”
Hogan also revealed that there may be more than one of these types of accounts associated with Znidarsic-Nicosia but did not go into further details.
“There is no question that somebody who has a racist Twitter account, which Mary did, is … going to be somewhat aware, I guess, of these racial tropes” mentioned in the firefighter’s lawsuit.
Dr. Nicholas Nicosia, who also hosted the party, stood by his wife and spoke out, “There’s been nothing with any interaction with us that would even suggest that we’re racist.”
In fact, he believes they are victims of “cancel culture.”
The dentist said the cancel culture is “an organized, malicious, well-orchestrated, politically charged attack” motivated in part because they were seen as a “snooty couple that lives in a big mansion.”
“Our children are being attacked on social media. Cancel culture can be cruel. It took me 32 years to build my reputation, and less than two hours to destroy it,” he said.
The backlash has been swift and heavy.
The two had a history of being socialites and philanthropists, going to people for important charitable and political causes and high-profile organizations, but now many are distancing themselves — with no regard for the millions of dollars they’ve raised for causes like cystic fibrosis and candidates for elected office.
La’Ron Singletary, the former Rochester police chief who is running for Congress on the Republican ticket and considered having them back him, has now disassociated himself from the two.
In addition to the Landmark Society of Western New York, dropping Znidarsic-Nicosia from their board and making her resign as the vice president of development, while the Rochester Americans hockey team has cut ties with her husband.
The Rochester City Newspaper said the politicians who they donated to and endorsed have “either returned or donated the financial contributions the couple had made to their campaigns.”
Nicosia said two employees at his dental practice have quit after this controversy, his patients had left and gone to other doctors, and his business’s Google rating has dropped.
His lawyer says his clients are being “canceled.”
“They just all dumped them because of how powerful this cancel culture is,” Hogan said of the organizations that shunned the Nicosias. “Now they have to decide, do they live in Rochester anymore or do they move? Can they redeem their character? That’s maybe what the judicial system can do. We shall see.”
The lawyer suggested his clients may be filing a defamation lawsuit against Jones for painting their party and by extension them as racist.
