Vinny Guadagnino is one of the more rational cast members on MTV’s Jersey Shore. He genuinely cares about the well-being of roommates and doesn’t enjoy it when the group is bogged down by silly arguments. In fact, there was even one time this season when Sammi and Ronnie were having a disagreement and he left the room and went into his own bedroom to read because he didn’t want to let the fight affect his mood and mindset. He’s also lent his persona to the Do Something campaign (which advocates for people who witness bullying to interject and stand up for the bully’s target) in the form of a PSA. Vinny just carries himself differently than the other goons on the show, and he seems to want to be more than someone who is famous for spending his summers in Jersey.
Another thing Vinny has going for him is he recognizes that not everyone in the world is as fortunate as he to have a stable income, and he’s showing his support for people who are out of work by voicing his approval of the Occupy Wall Street protests. In an interview with AOL TV, he opened up about how he voted for Obama in the last election (even though he’s registered as an Independent) and spoke about his plans to head downtown to check it out for himself. He said, “I think [Occupy Wall Street] is amazing. I think it’s awesome. Even if it does nothing, Americans are finally stepping up and talking about whatever issues they have. It started off talking about corporate greed, but ya know what it is… it’s much more of like a brotherhood, it’s more like going to Church. Even if you don’t believe in the stuff, it’s more about bringing people together and standing up for something. I think it’s cool, because I’m from New York City, so I’m going to go check it out actually.”
The interviewer also asked Vinny what he thought about how New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s negative comments about the MTV show and the cast, and what he thought of the Governor’s decision to block a $420,000 tax credit that was for the show’s production company (Christie told The New York Times he was “duty-bound” to ensure that taxpayer money would not benefit “a project which does nothing more than perpetuate misconceptions about the state and its citizens”). On this issue, Vinny said “Yeah, it’s a shame too, ‘cuz I don’t mind him so much as a political figure, the things that he sides with. But for him to judge us based on what we do … he’s called us really bad names, like he’s called me an idiot, stupid, like a little kid does. I wouldn’t expect that from an American political figure. So I have mixed feelings about him. But obviously, we’ve turned that state upside down. Our taxes have generated school books for kids. It’s so hard to get jobs in America, but in New Jersey, their job market is flourishing on that boardwalk because of us.” So is his plan to go to Occupy Wall Street and just tell everyone to move to New Jersey? I mean, at least it might make the people who own Zuccotti Park a little happy?
