Tone-deaf NYC activists attack gentrification while wearing $1,150 sweatshirt in cringey campaign videos

Insufferable liberal activists were mocked as “gentrifiers complaining about gentrification” — after a series of cringey campaign videos that included one hipster whining about affordability while wearing a pricey designer sweatshirt.In a roundly-ridiculed ad supporting progresssive City Council member Christopher Marte, several trendy young progressives bemoaned the construction of new homes on the Lower East Side, as one of them wore a Balenciaga sweatshirt that retails for $1,150.The activists accused so-called pro-development “YIMBYs” — short for yes in my backyard — of pushing poorer people out of the neighborhood.But the video’s cross-section of hipsters slamming the construction of new housing — at a time when New York City’s rents have hit record highs — came off as as tone deaf by social media users.“Incredible video of gentrifiers complaining about gentrification,” one user wrote.“A dude wearing a $1,250 Balenciaga sweatshirt complaining about the city selling out by building affordable housing for seniors is just perfect,” another added.“These people want an art student ethnostate and until we understand that, their politics aren’t going to make sense,” a third wrote.Another pointed out that some of the activists appeared to be recent arrivals in New York, with one seemingly having a strong British accent.“The whole ‘I have a British accent and I’m in America telling you not to build,’ thing,” one X user said.New York City rents rose 5.6% since December 2023 while rental rates in other top cities decreased during the same time period, according to the latest Realtor.com report released in January.One of the videos, shared on Instagram by the group Youth Against Displacement, raged against the building of One Manhattan Square, an 80-story skyscraper constructed on the site of a former Pathmark grocery store on Cherry Street in Two Bridges in 2019.Another female activist wearing a red beanie and a military g...