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A Connecticut city, mocked by sitcom, asks ABC to end insults

AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE - Pilot. (ABC/Adam Taylor) KATY MIXON -- 11Housewife Adam Taylor / ABC

NORWALK, Conn. (AP) — Residents of a Connecticut city that has been mocked on an ABC sitcom say the jokes need to stop, citing a Halloween episode featuring a character dressed up as a pregnant “Norwalk prom girl.”

“American Housewife” is set in Westport, and characters have occasionally derided their neighbors in Norwalk, drawing the ire of the city’s real-life residents.

Andy Ross created the website stoptheinsults.com to petition network owner Disney to apologize. He says he doesn’t understand why the show can’t needle a fictitious city instead.

Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling tells the Norwalk Hour that mocking high schoolers is “a form of bullying.”

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Westport First Selectman Jim Marpe says residents of his town feel the show is unfair to them as well.

ABC did not respond to requests for comment.