NYC bus tour Real Bronx Tours reportedly takes foreigners on a tour of the Bronx to learn what a “real ghetto” looks like.

Past patrons say the tour guide, Lynn Battaglia, pokes fun at the borough and its residents throughout the tour; lambasting the Bronx as a crime and poverty-infested nightmare.

NewsOne describes some of the tour’s itinerary:

At one point during the tour, Battaglia allegedly told the tourists in front of pantry line, “I don’t know what that line’s about, but every Wednesday we see it,” Battaglia told the tourists. “We see them go in with empty carts, and we see them come out with carts full.”

The bus then reportedly stopped in front of St. Mary’s Park, where she reportedly told the foreigners, “If it were 1980, and you said to me, ‘Lynn, I want to die.’ My answer would be, ‘You’re in the right neighborhood,’” suggesting that the park is unsafe.

As the tour continued, Battaglia allegedly also blamed the borough for coming up with the term “pig” to describe police, “The policeman, his name is Patty, and he would walk up and down that street, and if he ran into an alcoholic, he’d beat them mercilessly. So they’d call him ‘Patty the Pig,’” she said.

“Pig” actually originated in London in 1811!

The Bronx’s borough President Ruben Diaz has blasted the tour and its guide as exploitative, dishonest, and utterly despicable.

Agreed.

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UPDATE:

According to the the New York Times, the Real Bronx Tours website has since taken down references to “the ghetto,” instead promising “a taste of the real Boogie Down Bronx.”

No word on whether there’s been any change to the tour’s itinerary whatsoever.

 

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