ROMULUS (WWJ) – Officials at Detroit Metro Airport are defending a decision to pull a free newspaper from terminals over a headline that appeared to slam Detroit.

Airport Spokesman Mike Conway said while the headline “Detroit, the Most Miserable City in America” was meant as an ironic slam against an article in Forbes — but he didn’t get the joke.

“You don’t have to explain the concept of sarcasm to me. I get sarcasm; I understand what sarcasm is; I laugh when I watch Monty Python movies, so I know what irony is and sarcasm is,” said Conway. “This just landed flat.”

Conway said he received a lot of complaints from customers, employees and Airport Ambassadors volunteers about the issue of The Metropolitan, a local entertainment and culture magazine.

“Their mission [The Ambassadors is to help customers that are lost or have questions or whatever. But their whole objective is to help the image of Detroit,” said Conway. “They see this publication that says Detroit is the most miserable city in American, and, as one of them out it, we have 150 destinations out of this airport around the world. People around the world are connecting here.”

Conway said it was his decision.

“I have the prerogative of allowing this publication in the airport or not allowing it,” said Conway. “And when I see something that says Detroit is a miserable city, and we’re spreading that message around the world, my view is — whether it’s too sensitive or not — we don’t need to allow this.”

Anthony Brancaleone, the magazine’s editor and publisher since he launched it in 2009, doesn’t blame Conway, but isn’t happy with the situation.

“My real argument is with Forbes magazine. It was shocking and I didn’t like it, and I wanted to hit back,” he said in an interview with Crain’s Detroit Business.

Brancaleone said he’s worried about future content concerns at the airport. The publication includes reviews that sometimes can be controversial.

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