Nephew of ‘New York, New York’ Writer Has Brutal News for Kari Lake About Trump Tower Conversation

The nephew of John Kander, half of the Kander and Ebb songwriting duo behind the iconic “Theme from New York, New York,” responded to comments Kari Lake made about the song during Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Arizona on Friday.

Lake, a Trump-backed election denier and GOP candidate for a U.S. Senate seat in the state, reflected on celebrating her 52nd birthday with the former president in New York City and described using “that famous golden escalator” and a “golden elevator” to get to the 26th floor of Trump Tower.

“Donald Trump actually built that, a big part of the New York skyline. And I — and I thought to myself, ‘So this is what Frank Sinatra sang about in ‘New York, New York,’” Lake said of the singer’s 1980 hit cover of the song, which was originally performed by Liza Minnelli for Martin Scorsese’s 1977 musical film, “New York, New York.”

She continued: “This was Trump Tower, this was New York City. If we could make it there, you can make it anywhere.”

Former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander (D), a nephew of the song’s co-writer, posted a memorial to Lake on social media on Saturday.

“Kari, my uncle wrote that song. I tell you, he wasn’t thinking about Trump Tower, it didn’t even exist then,” Kander wrote of the building, which was completed a few years after the release of Sinatra’s cover of “New York, New York.”

In the same social media post, Kander noted that his uncle prefers Lake’s Democratic opponent in the Arizona race, Rep. Ruben Gallego, over her, saying, “He also supports @RubenGallego.”

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