New York Daily News Council Member Jimmy Vacca Blasts Horse Carriage Ads Starring Edie Flaco by Erin Durkin

Councilman Jimmy Vacca blasted a celebrity-studded PETA ad campaign intended to persuade him to get behind banning the city’s horse-drawn carriages.

Vacca said he was offended by the choice of Sopranos star Edie Falco to target him in a heavily Bronx Italian district. Meanwhile, fashion guru Tim Gunn starred in ads targeting openly gay Councilman Corey Johnson in a Manhattan district with a large gay population, and hip hop mogul Russell Simmons was featured in ads targeting several black Council members.

“I believe the choice of a star from the Sopranos to persuade an Italian-American Council Member in a district with a large Italian-American population is profiling, and I resent it,” Vacca said.

“This is yet another example of insensitive stereotyping that has too long been used against the Italian-American community. I will decide this matter on the merits of the legislation – not on the opinions of celebrities.”

Vacca, like the other Council members targeted in the bus shelter ads, is undecided on the carriage horse ban, which was introduced in the Council last week.

"Drivers have been caught forcing horses to work in weather extremes and while injured,” the ad picturing Falco and plastered around his district reads.

Also featured in the PETA campaign is actress Anjelica Huston, whose ads target Upper East Side Councilman Ben Kallos.