NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Mayor Bill de Blasio has reportedly been reinvited to the 2021 Columbus Day Parade on Monday after organizers excluded him from last year’s festivities.
The chairman of the Columbus Citizens Foundation, Angelo Vivolo, said de Blasio was “absolutely” welcomed to the Manhattan event, where marching bands and floats will parade along Fifth Avenue from 44th Street to 72nd Street.
“Absolutely. We welcome the mayor, we respect the mayor,” Vivolo told the New York Post.
The Columbus Citizens Foundation had declined to invite the mayor to participate in last year’s virtual event after the parade was canceled over the coronavirus.
Relations were strained between de Blasio and Italian Americans at the time after the mayor failed to include Mother Frances Cabrini on a list of women to be honored with statues across the city.
Vivolo last year only attributed the snub to the coronavirus and a “tight schedule” — though then Gov. Andrew Cuomo was named the grand marshal of the event.
Cuomo, who has since resigned in disgrace over sexual harassment allegations, was not invited to Monday’s event, a source told the Post.
Vivolo told the outlet that Cuomo though “did not ask to march in the parade, [he] is certainly welcome to join.”
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