State Rep. Themis Klarides on Friday said she stands behind the senior center’s decision to boycott Foxwoods Casino Resort after reading published comments from the casino’s chief executive that seniors in this community consider offensive.
(Editor’s note — click here for the Valley Indy story on this controversy)
Klarides on Friday fired off a letter to Foxwoods head Scott Butera, urging him to apologize to seniors throughout Derby as well as Connecticut and Massachusetts for comments attributed to him in a recent Boston Globe report.
A Globe journalist said Butera offered frank comments about the casino’s senior customers, saying, “stereotypical busloads of senior citizens who show up with walkers and oxygen tanks” as well as “damned elders who don’t gamble away enough of their money to help Foxwoods reach its goal, which at this point is basic survival.”
For his part, Butera has said his comments were taken out of context.
“The tone and spirit of Mr. Butera’s comments were both insensitive and insulting whether they were taken out of context or not,” said Klarides, who represents the 114th General Assembly District covering Derby, Orange and Woodbridge.
“The folks at Foxwoods should remember that the patronage of senior citizens played a significant role in their success.”