Conan O’Brien, the host of NBC’s The Tonight Show has been engaging in something of a feud with the mayor of Newark, New Jersey. Conan made a joke about Newark, and Mayor Cory Booker retaliated via YouTube.
While Conan has the power of national television behind him, Booker has managed to get a considerable audience for his side of the message as well. He has managed to get over 100,000 views on his YouTube video pages alone. Of course, Conan played clips of his videos on the Tonight Show as well.
Here are a few clips that explain the plot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZSSBUWJm0o
It ends with Booker both banning Conan from the entire state of New Jersey, and inviting him at the same time, as well as banning him from Newark’s “sister cities” around the world. Conan has already invited Booker on the show. I’d be very surprised if he did not turn up there.
This feels a bit like a set up on the Tonight Show’s part, but even so, it’s not a bad way to market a show who’s ratings were a bit disappointing (for some reason) after Leno left.
