Crowd Boos, Heckles Chris Christie at Super Bowl Event

“We hate traffic! We hate traffic!” yelled outraged rally-goers at a Super Bowl ceremony in New York City today as New Jersey Governor Chris Christie took the stage. The once popular governor had to hear boos for a second time this Saturday as what began as a terrible weekend for the Governor only seems to get worse.

Christie was scheduled to appear in Times Square with Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, representing the next host of the Super Bowl, to pass down the privilege of hosting the most important football game of the year. As he took the stage, however, boos were heard from the crowd, as well as the aforementioned chant, a clear reference to the George Washington Bridge scandal that engulfed his administration earlier this month. A Star-Ledger report notes that the Governor spoke for “less than a minute” after the unreceptive crowd jeered in his direction. According to a Politicker report, jeers were “far from unanimous,” though a short video clip on Vine uploaded by journalist Mark Halperin clearly shows a booing crowd:

Mediaite notes that this is not the first time Christie has been booed at a Super Bowl event this week. A crowd on hand for an event earlier this week with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also booed the Governor.

The event this afternoon was the second public event Christie attended– the first being Howard Stern’s fiftieth birthday party— since a pivotal new development arose in the saga surrounding the politically-motivated traffic jam in Fort Lee, NJ. Former Christie senior aide David Wildstein, who personally set the BridgeGate scheme in motion, claimed through a letter by his lawyer that “evidence exists” that Christie knew of the lane closures before the incident. The letter did not claim that Wildstein had the evidence or that the evidence showed Christie knew the motive behind the event was more than a “traffic study,” though it did note that Wildstein contested some of Christie’s claims about their relationship. Christie hired Wildstein as a senior Port Authority official, reports at the time claimed, to have “eyes and ears” inside the agency.

Christie denied Wildstein’s new allegations and released a public statement through his office doing so and reaffirming that he had learned of the closures through the press. In a private email obtained by Politico, the Christie administration took aim at Wildstein as someone who “will do and say anything to save David Wildstein.”