Andrew Yang conceded defeat on Tuesday in the heated NYC mayoral race, after reportedly turning down an offer for free shows from comedian Dave Chappelle. Reporter Hunter Walker wrote in The Uprising that campaign guidance from NYC lobbying firm Tusk Strategies is to blame in part for Yang’s fourth-place finish.
Yang, who used a longshot presidential campaign in 2020 to garner name recognition, started off this year’s mayoral race strong. He led the polls, had thousands of donors, and spent more than $8 million on the race. But former presidential campaign advisers blamed Tusk Strategies for taking the campaign in a different direction, and ultimately, failing.
The Uprising reported that “According to the former adviser, staffers from the presidential campaign team tracked a massive loss in engagement on Yang’s pages on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. The ex-adviser also said the Tusk team sidelined one of Yang’s most high profile surrogates, stand-up comedy megastar Dave Chappelle.”
“Dave Chappelle offered to do free shows. Tusk said no. They found him too controversial,” the adviser said.
Chappelle, whose show is Netflix’s most watched comedy show of all time, campaigned for Yang during his presidential run and said he was inspired by his platform.
Before allegedly taking advice to reject Chappelle for being too controversial, Yang had previously said he was a big fan of Chappelle.
“We both have the same hopes and dreams for the future of this country and we can improve our own way of life. Dave’s such a profound thinker in so many ways,” Yang had said.
Source: The Federalist
