Jimmy McMillan is running for the mayor of the city of New York.
Your rent may be too damn high, but Jimmy McMillan's sure isn't.
The Vietnam vet stole the spotlight at the gubernatorial sideshow debate earlier this week, bellowing his campaign platform and party banner, "The rent is too damn high."
But McMillan's indignant pontification doesn't appear to stem from personal experience. As it turns out, he doesn't pay rent at all -- and hasn't done so since the 1980s, according to a published report.
McMillan missed payments on his $800-a-month one-bedroom apartment in Flatbush and his landlord allowed him to live rent free in exchange for maintenance work, reports The New York Times.
The 64-year-old retired postal worker dismissed questions about whether his own affordable situation cheapened his platform.
"It's not about my rent. It's not about me," McMillan told the Post, noting that rents have gone up steadily virtually everywhere else. "What about the children's future? Where will they stay?"
While the rent may not be all about him, the Internet's been flooded with McMillan buzz since his performance in the bizarre debate. He's a top search phrase on Yahoo.com and his mayoral campaign video from 2009 was the most played video on NBCNewYork on Tuesday (see above).
Along with the comedy, however, controversy has marked McMillan's campaign efforts over the years. He's been accused of posting anti-Semitic rhetoric on his website that blames Jewish landlords for the lack of affordable housing in Williamsburg.
