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Is Pat Kiernan Manspreading In This Photo? An Investigation
By
Jen Carlson
Published Mar 19, 2015
Modified Mar 19, 2015
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Mar 19, 2015
Modified Mar 19, 2015
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NY1's Pat Kiernan has been caught manspreading on the subway... or has he? A Kiernan fan named Zoe snapped this photo of the anchor sporting a spread while getting some shut-eye—but is it really manspreading if you're asleep? There's no intent!
We asked Kiernan about the photo this morning, and he told us, "I'll concede there was a bit of a 'manspread'... but my backpack is on my lap and I've clearly made the adjacent seat available." He added that the photo was taken "late morning on the L train" during his 8-minute commute. Kiernan wakes up and goes to work while we're still out at bars, so we'll cut the guy some slack.
We're gonna give Kiernan a pass on this. This is not manspreading, even if he wasn't actually sleeping, he's got his backpack on his lap, which is being supported by his legs, and ultimately placing it on the seat or tossing it on the floor would have been a much more egregious offense.
And in a passionate defense of Kiernan, our own John Del Signore sent out a memo this morning, declaring, "That's not manspreading, his knee is only slightly wider than his shoulders—just because he's not sitting with his knees together (who does that?) doesn't make it a spread. That seems pretty normcore to me."
He's also Canadian, and everyone knows Canadians practice excellent etiquette.
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manspreading
pat kiernan
subway etiquette
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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