Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida blasted New York City’s proposed ban for coal-fired ovens Thursday, saying it was an attempt to “control behavior.”
Scott LoBaido went viral after video of him throwing slices of pizza while protesting a proposed regulation at New York City’s city hall was posted on Twitter. The New York City Department of Environmental Protection proposed requiring wood and coal-fired pizza ovens installed before 2016 to have emission control devices, according to the New York Post.
“They just want to control,” DeSantis told Fox News host Jesse Watters. “You have an itch on the left, they want to control behavior. We saw the same thing with COVID. A lot of that wasn’t about your health, it’s that they wanted to control your behavior. They just don’t want people to be happy and make their own decisions.” (RELATED: ‘This Ban Has Got To Go!’: Jesse Watters, ‘Pizza-Slinger’ Protester Roast Eric Adams Over Oven Ban)
WATCH:
During the appearance, DeSantis was seen placing a pizza in the oven of Grimaldi’s, a pizza joint with a brick coal-fired pizza oven.
“This is the culprit. This guy,” the restaurant’s co-owner, only identified as Anthony, told DeSantis and Watters. “This is a hundred percent American, U.S. coal from Pennsylvania, the best, cleanest burning coal there ever is.”
“I can tell you in Florida, when they went after the gas stoves, we just made gas stoves tax free in Florida, no sales tax,” DeSantis responded. “We will do something similar for coal fired ovens, so if we need New York City pizza to come to Florida, we’re going to roll out the red carpet for you guys.”
The DeSantis campaign launched pizza-themed merchandise after the visit, including a T-shirt that said “Biden One Term. Everybody Knows The Rules.”
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