6 Celebrities Who Slammed Albany, New York

Albany, New York, was in the headlines in April for negative comments made by ESPN announcer Rebecca Lobo, who was in the nation's capital for the NCAA women's basketball tournament at MVP Arena when she said: “By the way, hopefully you can find something to do in Albany.”

This isn't the first time a celebrity has criticized Albany, New York. Here are five other celebrities who have hated on Albany.

#5 – David Letterman

According to the Orlando Sentinel, in 1993, when David Letterman was talking about high-speed rail in New York state, he joked: “Why would anyone want to get to Albany in 55 minutes?”

#4 – Bert Kreischer

In 2019, comedian Bert Kreischer appeared on the YouTube show First We Feast and was asked, “Of the 28 cities you've visited, which one had the most trash?” He responded after a moment, “It was Albany, by the way.”

Kreischer explained on social media, “Albany isn't the worst, the venue is. They ran out of beer at the first show and only gave the crowd 2 beers. Bullshit — in my opinion.”

#3 – Cardi B

In October 2017, Eonline.com reported that artist Cardi B made a sudden exit from the Hilton Hotel in Albany. Authorities reportedly accused her and her team of smoking marijuana, which she denied, adding that the accusations were racially motivated.

“You wanna know? Albany is notorious for racism,” she said. “The hotel room I was staying in smelled like marijuana, so the cops came in the middle of the night and knocked on my manager's door and told us we were smoking marijuana and they had to kick us out.” – Cardi B

#2 – Daryl Hall

In another example of criticism of the Albany Hilton, Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates slammed the hotel onstage at SPAC in August 2022. According to the Times Union, Daryl Hall didn't care much for his room, saying it didn't have a window and that it wasn't great because he doesn't smoke or inject crack cocaine.

This is the worst hotel review I have ever written. You guys are completely booked and I can't stay here. I don't usually say this but this was bad news. This was bad news. – Daryl Hall

#1 – The Simpsons

In his song, Homer Simpson paints a bad picture of the Capital Region and all of upstate New York. He criticizes several places, including Niskayuna, Utica, Mohawk Valley Community College, and Oriskany. In case you missed it, here is the video: