New York City Mayor Eric Adams apologized Friday after a video surfaced online showing him deride white New York City Police officers as “crackers.”
Mr. Adams expressed regret at a press conference, calling his use of the word “inappropriate.”
“I definitely apologize. Inappropriate. Inappropriate comments should not have been used. Someone asked me a question using that comment and playing on that word, I responded in that comment, but, clearly, it’s a comment that should not be used,” Mr. Adams said.
“And I apologize not only to those who heard it but to New Yorkers because they should expect more from me and that was inappropriate.”
“Cracker” is a derogatory term usually used to refer to poor White people.
The 2019 clip, which was recently posted on YouTube, showed Mr. Adams giving a speech in a small auditorium and saying, “I mean every day in the police department, I kicked those crackers’ ass.”
Thomas Lopez-Pierre, who posted the video, said Mr. Adams was speaking at an event hosted by the Harlem Business Alliance. Mr. Adams, who was preparing to run for mayor at the time, was talking to supporters about his time as a law enforcement officer with the New York City Police Department.
“Man, I was unbelievable in the Police Department with 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement,” he went on to say, referencing the organization that he co-founded composed of Black NYPD officers. “I Became a sergeant, a lieutenant, and a captain. You know the story. Some people, all of a sudden, are trying to reinvent me. But the reality is what I was then is who I am now.”
In the video, Mr. Adams goes on to talk about the mayoral race. Between laughs, he says that he would rather “grow a beard, smoke some weed and leave this stuff alone. You hear me?”
New York City Police Benevolent Association President Patrick J. Lynch released a statement saying the video will not define the police union’s relationship with the mayor.
“Whenever a controversial video of a police officer surfaces online, we ask for fairness instead of a rush to outrage. We will apply the same standard here. We have spoken with Mayor Adams about this video,” Mr. Lynch said in a statement. “We have spent far too many hours together in hospital emergency rooms these past few weeks, and we’ve worked together before that. A few seconds of video will not define our relationship. We have a lot of work to do together to support our members on the streets.”
After running on a law-and-order platform, Mr. Adams took office last month as New York City faced a skyrocketing crime and an understaffed police force.
The crime wave further rocked the city when two NYPD Detectives Wilbert Mora and Jason Rivera were ambushed and shot dead on Jan. 21. They were promoted posthumously to the rank of detective.
President Biden visited Mr. Adams in New York on Thursday to discuss gun crimes and discuss his administration’s plan to crack down on sales of illegal guns.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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