Italian-American leaders plan to boycott Mayor de Blasio’s Italian-American heritage reception at Gracie Mansion on Thursday to protest his refusal to defend Christopher Columbus statues. The Gracie Mansion event precedes next Monday’s Columbus Day Parade on Fifth Avenue.

“I’m not going to the reception. How can I go to an event hosted by a person who is against what I stand for? The mayor doesn’t support the Columbus statue at Columbus Circle,” fumed Angelo Vivolo, president of the Columbus Citizens Foundation that sponsors the parade.