Fork It Over For Charity: De Blasio's Pizza Fork Up For Auction
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - The fork at the center of Mayor Bill de Blasio's first scandal as mayor is on the auction block to benefit a charity set up in honor of a 9/11 hero.
As WCBS 880's Monica Miller reported, de Blasio's use of a knife and fork to eat pizza was the cultural faux pas heard around the world.
Fork It Over For Charity: De Blasio's Pizza Fork Up For Auction
"Literally we had people from France calling, people from Italy calling to say 'we saw you on television. What's going on with the fork?'" said Marc Cosentino, co-owner of Staten Island's Goodfellas Pizzeria.
It was there in early January that the new mayor - originally from the Boston area - attacked three slices in a decidedly un-New York way.
Fork It Over For Charity: De Blasio's Pizza Fork Up For Auction
"He took a slice of pizza and reached for a knife and fork and he started eating it like that," said Cosentino, a former NYPD sergeant. "Now we have a new thing. When they mayor comes, we put the word out and we hide all the silverware."
At the time, de Blasio defended his pizza-eating technique, saying that's how pizza is eaten in Italy.
LINK: Bid On The Mayor's Pizza Fork
Following what's been dubbed "Pizzagate," the utensil was put in an evidence bag. The pizzeria's owners decided to donate it to the Stephen Siller Tunnel To Towers Foundation, named for an FDNY firefighter who ran through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.
Frank Siller said the money raised through the auction will go towards Sandy relief and for building homes for wounded soldiers.
"We have no idea how much this fork is gonna raise, but if you want to do something good, fork it over," Siller said.
As of mid-afternoon on Thursday, the top bid was up to $1,100.
The auction closes on Feb. 21 at 12:01 a.m.
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