Taylor Swift Named Ambassador For New York City

NEW YORK: Welcome to New York, Taylor Swift! The locals are kvetching about you already.

Swift's new gig as New York City's global tourism ambassador is getting a Bronx cheer (not that she knows what that is) from locals who questioned her street cred and mocked the videos she made for the city's tourism agency, NYC & Co.

In the videos, she explains how to pronounce Houston Street (HOW-ston, not YOU-ston); defines "bodega" as a corner 24-hour store (though the bodega pictured looks spiffier than what most New Yorkers might think of as a bodega), and declares her love for the perfect latte.

"A latte is not like a slice of pizza, or a bagel," declared a writer in the Village Voice. The Daily News called her appointment "absurd." A Brooklyn city councilman, Jumaane D. Williams, asked in a tweet, "Of all the past/present talent and celebrities that are actually native NY'ers explain again why #TaylorSwift is our ambassador?" Others wondered why Jay Z, Jerry Seinfeld or J Lo weren't tapped.

ven the unflappable anchor for the city's 24-hour cable news station, NY1's Pat Kiernan, expressed outrage, asking whether Swift knows who Dr. Zizmor is. (Zizmor is a dermatologist who's advertised on the subway for years.)

But NYC & Co. spokesman Chris Heywood defended Swift as the perfect choice for the city's global ambassador.

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