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Presidential Candidate John Kasich eats a piece of pizza at Gino's Pizzeria and Restaurant on March 30, in the Queens borough of New York City. | Getty Kasich defends eating pizza with fork: It was 'scalding hot, OK?'

During a stop at a pizza joint in New York on Wednesday, John Kasich drew the mock ire of locals and reporters on Twitter as he used a fork.

On Thursday, Kasich explained himself.

"Look, look, the pizza came scalding hot, OK? And so I use a little fork," the governor of Ohio told ABC's "Good Morning America." "You know what? My wife who is on spring break with my daughters said, ’I'm proud of you. You finally learned how to use a utensil properly.’ But I mean — not only did I eat the pizza, I had the hot sausage. It was fantastic."

Kasich, apparently recognizing his error, finished up using his hands, although he did not fold over the slice, as is customary.

"But here's what I've learned — I came to New York, there were like 100 press people there. Get ready, John, because I'll be spending a lot of time in New York," he joked, referring to himself in the third person.

"New Yorkers eat their pizza a certain way. Not just New Yorkers, but around the world," co-host Robin Roberts told Kasich, as laughter erupted off-camera.

Kasich replied in jest, "Listen — I was eating pizza before that reporter was born."

The Midwestern governor is not the only presidential candidate who has been criticized for his form. In 2011, while dining at a Famous Famiglia pizza joint in Manhattan with Sarah Palin, Queens native Donald Trump came under fire for using a fork.

"This way you can take the top of the pizza off, you're not just eating the crust. I like not to eat the crust so that we keep the weight down at least as good as possible," the businessman said in a YouTube video. That response followed a verbal thrashing by Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show," with the host joking, "Based on how you eat pizza, Donald, I'd like to see your long-form birth certificate. I don't think you were really born in New York."

