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When MTV's reality hit Jersey Shore first aired, there was a minor blow-up over many cast members' use of the anti-Italian slur "guido" (or in the girls' case, "guidette") as a proud identifier. If you were among the offended, brace yourself: According to Jenni "JWoww" Farley, 23, three of the cast members are faking their Italian roots!
Yesterday on Fox New's web show The Strategy Room, JWOWW admitted that neither she nor Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi are Italian-Americans. According to the reality star, Snooki is Chilean, and Farley says she is "Spanish and Irish. Some people guess that, since my last name's Farley."
Snooki, 21, is the real shocker here, since she's fond of calling herself a "Guidette princess," and her last name (Polizzi) sounds Italian to many fans. But Polizzi has said that she was adopted by her Poughkeepsie, N.Y., parents, and has explained her "year-round tan" by saying "I'm half Spanish."
So what about the "guidette" thing? JWOWW defends her word choice on Twitter, saying, "It's a lifestyle, not an ethnicity or race." In the interview, Farley also calls out Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, a self-proclaimed "Guido" who's half Puerto Rican. (Savvy viewers who noticed his hyphenated last name may have already guessed as much.) But Ortiz-Magro has bigger problems this week: TMZ has released unaired footage of him arguing with another man on the boardwalk, calling him a "f**king queer" and using the homophobic f-word. (The argument took place shortly before Ortiz-Magro was arrested in a bar fight).
We know that the Jersey Shore cast enjoys nothing more than making headlines, but offending gay and Italian-American viewers is probably not the smartest way to do it.
Watch JWOWW's interview below.
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Do you think non-Italians should be able to use the term "guido"? Chime in below!
