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Dov Hikind's Purim blackface escapade was matched only by his remarks afterwards.

When pictures of Assembly member Dov Hikind dressed up in blackface as a "basketball player" for his annual Purim party hit Facebook this week, it prompted a predictable media firestorm.

Predictable, apparently, to everyone except Hikind, who spent the last two days explaining to anyone who would listen that he was astounded anyone could be offended by a Purim costume, because the costume, as he told Gothamist, "was just about being different. And that's what we do on Purim."

Hikind continued to dig the whole deeper, trying to tell the Daily News that his costume was best understood in the wider context of harmless fun: "People in the community were dressed up as Arabs," he said. "What was that about?"

Finally, though, as pressure mounted, Hikind allowed as how maybe it wasn't such a great idea, though his apology was very much of the I'm-sorry-you-were-offended variety. In fact, direct quote: "Anyone who was offended, I'm sorry they were offended."

As a grace note, Hikind capped his everyone-needs-to-lighten-up apology with this sour statement to the New York Times:

"Next year I was thinking I'd be an Indian," he said. "But you know, I've changed my mind about that. I don't think that's a good idea. Somebody will be offended."

So, yeah: Overall, A+ apology, Mr. Hikind. After a performance like that, perhaps it's no surprise that the Assembly member got the national TV treatment from Jon Stewart on the Daily Show. Watch the video after the jump:

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Sam Levin

SNL writer and actor Seth Meyers watches Mayor Mike Bloomberg speak Spanish at a press conference at 30 Rockefeller.

Forget the cast of Gossip Girl, Miss Piggy, Kermit the Frog, and Lady Gaga.

Mayor Mike Bloomberg brought in some serious entertainment power to really spice up his press conference this afternoon: Saturday Night Live.

Well actually, it was just Seth Meyers. But he got to use the whole stage of SNL at 30 Rockefeller Plaza! We were hoping for some Kristen Wiig or maybe even a Bloomberg-impersonating Fred Armisen, but oh well, you can't have it all, right? And Meyers certainly managed to make it more colorful and comedic than, well, the average mayoral announcement.

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You probably didn't win the $640 million Mega Millions jackpot -- the chance of winning was 1 in 176 million -- but the money will be divided up by at least three people. Lottery officials said winning tickets were sold in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland. In New York, 17 people will get a second-prize of $250,000 each. And the lucky numbers? Those were 02-04-23-38-46 with a Mega Ball of 23. People around the country collectively spent about $1.5 billion for a chance to get their hands on the winnings. [CBS New York, NYDN]

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via @NYCMayorsOffice

Though much of the real-life news in the city this past week was worth of a couple Law & Order episodes, the mayor's office brought our attention to on-screen drama. Not only was there the Thursday Gossip Girl hoopla (xoxo, Mayor Mike), but on Tuesday the film Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close got a surprise Oscar nomination for Best Picture. In a press release the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting announced that Extremely Loud was a "Made in NY" film. To learn more about that label, we talked to Katherine Oliver, the commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, Friday. Read some excerpts of our conversation after the jump:

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Have you seen the extremely popular British period drama called "Downton Abbey"? It's all the rage right now. It won a Golden Globe! People are talking about it, watching it, DVR-ing it, weeping with joy and raising their glasses to it as we speak. And people and news organizations, which are bigger than people, are writing about it, and sometimes they're spelling it wrong. If you have, too, you are in good company. This is not to shame but in the interest of learning -- that wee "w" is tricky! Here are a few of the transgressors. Also, this is totally to shame.

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Don't forget, as Nick explained this weekend, that today brings something unprecedented and horrifying in the wake of yesterday's asteroid, which didn't hit us, whew, though we were forced to hide out in a dark, underground bar all night just in case. Today at 2 p.m., the first-ever nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, conducted jointly by the FCC, FEMA, Homeland Security, and the National Weather Service, will occur. We are on pins and needles.

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Will Skynet become self-aware as well?

This Wednesday, a day after we narrowly avoid being hit by an asteroid, America will face yet another threat: television interruption. On November 9th, the FCC, FEMA, Homeland Security, and the National Weather Service will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System. Mediaite reports this is the organizations' "first all-inclusive, national test," and it will occur at 2 p.m. EST. For a couple minutes this week, there will be nothing on TV. May God help us all.

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Did you see Mayor Bloomberg's cameo on Curb Your Enthusiasm last night? If not, here you go. Our mayor, who is no stranger to a cameo, was particularly mayoral, banishing Larry David from our entire city for his typical Larry David-esque misstep (in this case, miming playing violin during Michael J. Fox's speech -- it was a present!).

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Today in historical things that are kind of cool: You'll see a 1920s (authentic, vintage) subway train running on the 2/3 track for all the weekends in September. The train was originally used for the IRT system, and began service in 1917. Now its rattan seats and Prohibition-era detailing (ceiling fans! drop sash windows!) will be paired with "Boardwalk Empire-inspired period artwork" because, after all, this is not just an old train, it is a promotional old train. Specifically, HBO is using it to remind people of season two of their Prohibition-era-detailed show, Boardwalk Empire, which premieres on Sunday, September 25. Ah, yes.

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Today in Press Clips: Jim Romenesko is kind of retiring, but not fully, Nikki Finke will provide voiceovers for entertainment news clips, the journalists who have been trapped in the Rixos Hotel since Sunday are now free, and Shaquille O'Neal tried to get with a reporter at Newsweek. Just your average Wednesday.

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