It turns out not even dog elections are safe from crypto.
Just as things are heating up in the 2024 Election, there has been a huge shake-up in the 2024 NYC Dog Mayor election. After weeks of voting, the NYC Dog Mayor election came down to two candidates: Enzo the Shih Tzu and Bertram the Pomeranian, both aiming to step up in the place of current Dog Mayor Sally Long Dog.
However, in a shocking twist, Enzo has pulled out of the race.
Enzo’s owner Olivia Caputo took to the pup’s Instagram page (@enzoistheshiht) to announce his departure from the race, citing threats made by a crypto users that are allegedly swaying the election results.
“What was supposed to be a fun, uplifting contest turned into a catalyst for spreading hate, negativity, and threats of violence towards Enzo. A certain group of $bert crypto coin supporters is using the Dog Mayor platform to pump their valueless sh-tcoin. They do not care about the Dog Mayor of NYC and their involvement has compromised the entire election,” the statement read. “They are offering payment/giveaways to sway people to vote for Bert, which is illegal per FTC guidelines. The way they are speaking in their group chats indicates it’s clearly a pump and dump scheme, which people will ultimately suffer financial harm from.”
Caputo went on to write that the account has never seen such negative comments which participating in the election before, stating that they felt unsupported, particularly by the Dog Mayor platform.
“Enzo’s entire purpose is to spread joy and positivity every day. I will do everything I can to protect that and keep this an uplifting, loving space for us,” the statement read. “We want no association with the Dog Mayor platform and are super disappointed and disheartened in the way this turned out.”
In an interview with amNewYork Metro, Caputo said that the crypto comments started back when Bertram was squaring off against Ziggy, offering financial giveaways if you voted for Bertram. When this was brought to the Dog Mayor founder Stephen Calabria, he said they couldn’t disqualify Bertram because of it.
On Sunday, Nov. 3, Caputo was able to access a public Telegraph forum with Bertram’s crypto fans, where she saw the comments that caused Enzo to drop out of the race.
“The language in there that they use talking about Enzo and me is very, very disturbing, to say the least. It seemed threatening, very negative, very hateful,” said Caputo. “I realize that as far as we know this has nothing to do with Bert or his owner, but what I have learned is that these people are using the Dog Mayor platform to boost the value of their own crypto coin. If they’re really not invested in the actual project here at all, it’s all about their crypto coin and something about that is really icky to me, I don’t want to be associated with all with it at all.”
Caputo also told amNewYork Metro that when the hate was brought to the comments section of the NYC Dog Mayor account, Calabria did nothing to protect them, noting that when she and Enzo’s followers started to speak up, they got blocked by the account.
“[It’s] unfortunate because these are people that are just expressing their opinions about this being unfair but anybody that disagrees with him seems to get blocked. It’s ironic honestly because Stephen echoes all the time how this is supposed to be fun and lighthearted but he’s let it to be anything but that. He hasn’t protected that in any way, shape or form,” said Caputo. “In other rounds, if there have been sore losers in the comments, he has always called that out for other people. He’s defended the winner, called out sore losers. He hasn’t done that for us one time.”
“Before I agreed to join, Stephen Calabria promised that the Dog Mayor Race would have no ties to businesses. Unfortunately he did not stay true to this rule, in what became of a pattern of him changing the rules to whatever suited him. This led to him gaslighting me about the instances of people buying votes. I would share evidence that he would acknowledge, later he pretended like it never happened. Then he said that buying votes was not against the rules (acknowledging it again), but finally reverted back to saying that it never happened and he is against it. This made me feel like I was going crazy and was extremely frustrating. As honesty is very important to me, none of this sat right, but I let it go, not wanting to be perceived as a sore loser,” said Isabelle Mann, owner of Ziggy in a statement to amNewYork Metro. “When similar and additional issues continued to arise and be ignored by Stephen in the rounds following when Ziggy was eliminated, I knew I had to speak out. If he was gaslighting me, he was likely doing it to others. Many of my followers have now come forward saying he treated them poorly. I’ve heard everything from him lashing out in direct messages, deleting their comments, ghosting them after offering them work with his platform and many who have been blocked by him for no good reason. He called my followers “intense and rabid” to PIX11.”
The Dog Mayor Instagram account (@dogmayornyc) announced the update to the ballot, noting that — regarding Bertram’s crypto following — the account has no financial interest in the outcome of the Dog Mayor race.
“We’re a neutral organization and don’t support individual candidates over others, nor do we support any ancillary financial interests associated with the individual candidates. We have literally zero financial interest in this at all, outside of trying to bring joy to the world and getting more puppies adopted,” the statement read. “We don’t condone negativity directed towards anyone, canine or human, and do not support anyone trying to buy or pay for votes. That said, we can’t moderate every conversation on the internet, can’t control whether people in the global crypto marketplace organize for a candidate for dog mayor, and can’t dictate each person’s motivations for casting their vote for a given candidate. We couldn’t disqualify Bertie just because he was supported by some folks who aren’t associated with him or his owner.”
The account when on to emphasize that it is not “illegal or disqualifying for a candidate to be endorsed by outside groups of people,” welcoming positive support for any candidate.
“If folks want to support a candidate and see positive, effective ways to do so, go for it! We’re as committed as ever to making ours a fun, inclusive, negativity-free election,” the statement said.
Enzo’s fans took to the comment section of his and the Dog Mayor account’s posts, giving the pup their unwavering support.
Bertram the Pomeranian put out a statement about $Bert coin on their Instagram story stating that they have nothing to do with it, but hopes they are having fun.
“I hope they do not try to pay people to vote in the dog election and they should not say mean things about other doggies,” the statement read.
“Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt all appear on coins. Now Bert. What can I say, he has a face for crypto,” said current Dog Mayor Sally Long Dog.
Taking Enzo’s place in the final election is Simon the Basset-Cattle Dog, and the voting for the Dog Mayor Election, which was originally supposed to take place on Nov. 4, will now take place on Nov. 11.
For more information about the Dog Mayor election, visit dogmayornyc.com.
Updated at 1:57 p.m. on Nov. 4. amNewYork Metro has reached out to the official Dog Mayor account for further comment.
