Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Getty Images
Over the weekend, humans and rodents in all five boroughs of New York celebrated the news that our hard-partying mayor, Eric Adams, was indicted on federal bribery charges. The scandal even came up at Sabrina Carpenter’s concert at Madison Square Garden. “Should we talk about how I got the mayor indicted?,” the singer pondered at one point in the show before segueing into her next song.
“Should we talk about how I got the mayor indicted?”
— Sabrina Carpenter at her #NYCShortnSweet show pic.twitter.com/GNWsO4mmZ3
— Sabrina Carpenter Spotify (@SpotifySC) September 30, 2024
Sabrina is right — we should talk about that. To be clear, Carpenter definitely did not get Eric Adams indicted. But she is tangentially involved in his downfall via one highly controversial priest who worked with her on her “Feather” music video last year. Let’s back up, shall we?
Who is this priest?
Earlier in September, NBC reported that investigators had subpoenaed Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello, a Brooklyn pastor, and were requesting information about his financial or business dealings with Adams. If Gigantiello’s last name sounds familiar, it’s not from the beans section of your local supermarket. Remember last November, when Sabrina Carpenter got some Catholic priests all riled up because she shot a sexy, gory music video in their church? We have Gigantiello to thank for that. He was handling logistics at Brooklyn’s Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary church when he gave her team permission to film there, though in an apology letter addressed to his parishioners, Gigantiello claimed he didn’t know the scenes filmed in the church would be “provocative.”
The Diocese of Brooklyn disagreed — the organization told the Catholic News Agency it had reviewed “documents presented to the parish in advance of the production” that “clearly portray inappropriate behavior unsuitable for a church sanctuary.” Gigantiello was permanently stripped of his administrative duties but is still allowed to offer Mass at the church.
What does this Catholic pop drama have to do with Eric Adams?
A handful of publications are convinced Gigantiello wouldn’t have gotten entangled in the Adams scandal if it weren’t for Carpenter’s video, which put both the church and himself in the news and therefore on the radar of federal investigators. One Politico reporter claims the Carpenter fiasco prompted the Brooklyn diocese to open up a “broader administrative review” of Gigantiello, and that the organization then started working with federal prosecutors to examine his real-estate deals with Frank Carone, the mayor’s former chief of staff.
Gigantiello seems to know Adams through Carone, who was also recently subpoenaed. The New York Post claims Gigantiello “likes to party” and has been hitting the clubs with Carone for a few years now. In May, Gigantiello joined Adams on a trip to the Vatican — posts on Gigantiello’s Facebook page show himself and Adams visiting the “Jewish ghetto in Rome” and tucking into a large tray of biscotti together.
So far, Gigantiello hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing and his name is not mentioned in last week’s indictment. Meanwhile, he appears to be preaching through it. According to the National Catholic Reporter, Gigantiello joked to more than 100 parishioners on the Sunday following his subpoena, “I’m sure you saw my advertisement for my cookbook and tomato sauce on the news this week.” (Did I mention this guy has a YouTube show and cookbook called Breaking Bread, and recently released his own A Taste of Heaven tomato sauce? He also bragged about serving up Italian classics for the mayor at his Williamsburg home in a 2023 Post interview.)
After suggesting he needed to mind his words since the Mass was also being livestreamed on Facebook, Gigantiello added, “The truth will set you free. Amen. I need your prayers.”
Do you think he got “Short n’ Sweet” tickets, though?
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