UNICO National, the nation's largest Italian American service and charitable organization, is publicly denouncing the recent comments made by Chuck Todd, host of NBC's Meet the Press. In a recent discussion on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" cable program, Todd specifically referred to the New York 11th District Congressional race between Michael Grimm and Domenic Recchia as "...a fight between mob families." Both Recchia and Grimm are of Italian heritage.

"Our organization has a long history of defending against stereotypical and degrading references of Italian Americans," stated Richard D'Arminio, UNICO National President. "It is very disturbing to see a prominent TV host on a major network use such a denigrating and hurtful reference." D'Arminio is communicating with other Italian American organizations to join in denouncing Todd and NBC. He commented, "I am pleased that the Italian American ONE VOICE Coalition brought this affront to our attention, and we join with ONE VOICE and other organizations in taking a stand against these types of attacks on our heritage."

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Source: http://www.prnewswire.com/