Empire State Building social team dissed Chicago’s iconic Bean — now Windy City TV hosts are ‘clapping back’
The Windy City tried to take a bite out of the Big Apple.
Incensed Chicago newscasters were quick to reply when the Empire State Building shaded the Illinois city’s most iconic landmark.
The Chicago Bean reopened over the weekend following 10 months of renovations, Millennium Park announced.
The Empire State Building’s official X account responded to the news by sharing a clip of television host Wendy Williams looking disinterested while asking her audience to “clap if you care.”
The New York landmark’s towering ego offended some midwesterners – including the hosts of “Good Day Chicago.”
“Really? Because guess who cares. We do,” anchor Natalie Bomke scoffed during Tuesday morning’s show.
The camera then panned to show several other “Good Day Chicago” hosts clapping along with the studio audience.
“We’re literally clapping back,” Bomke’s co-anchor, Brian Jackson, joked.
Bomke, however, had only just sunk her teeth into the retort.
“The Empire State Building has been around for a measly 76 years longer than the Bean, but does it really count?” she continued.
“But it only gets 4 million visitors a year, and Bean gets a whopping 20 million visitors a year, so take that, Big Apple! Tell you where you can put that Empire State Building!”
The Empire State Building opened on May 1, 1931, while the Chicago Bean didn’t show up until 2006.
Officially titled “Cloud Gate,” the free-standing sculpture was designed by artist Anish Kapoor, who plopped a similar work underneath the Jenga Building on Leonard Street last year.
Like Chicago’s questionable pizza, the architectural rivalry between the Second City and New York runs deep: In 1973, Chicago served New York a serious blow when the Willis Tower – then known as the Sears Tower – surpassed the World Trade Center and the world’s tallest building.
But the Empire State Building reigned supreme on Tuesday, when it announced it had been named the top attraction worldwide by Tripadvisor.
As of shortly after noon, Chicago had not responded to the news.
