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Mayor Eric Adams apologized Friday after an old clip resurfaced where the mayor was recorded saying he was a superior cop compared to his “cracker” colleagues during his time in the New York City Police Department.
“Every day in the police department, I kicked those crackers’ ass,” now-mayor Adams says in the video at a private Harlem Business Alliance event in 2019.
“Man, I was unbelievable in the police department with 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement,” Adams, who retired as a captain in the NYPD, says in the video referencing the group he co-founded.
“[I] became a sergeant, a lieutenant and a captain. You know the story, some people all of a sudden trying to reinvent me, but the reality is what I was then is who I am now.”
“I’m called again,” Adams continues in the nearly minute-and-a-half clip talking about his expected run for mayor, joking that he’d rather “grow a beard, smoke some weed and leave this stuff alone.”
“You hear me? These negroes that wake every day and don’t like themselves, they are going to beat me up. The people who say, ‘Where’s our real Black leaders?’ They’re going to say, ‘Who’s Eric? Why does Eric think he should be mayor?’ Well, negro, you run, you run. Go raise the $7 million dollars.”
During an unrelated press conference Friday afternoon, Adams apologized for the three-year-old comments, claiming the question he was responding to had used that slur. The question can not be heard in the clip.
“But clearly, it’s a comment that should not be used 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,” he added.
The video, which was uploaded by Thomas Lopez-Pierre has been making the round through the police department since it went online Tuesday.
One police source said cops are saying they felt a bit “attacked.”
“I’m a cracker supervisor technically,” one cop said.
The head of the Police Benevolent Association cut the mayor some slack, saying in a statement, “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,” PBA President Pat Lynch said. “We have spoken with Mayor Adams about this video.”
“A few seconds of video will not define our relationship.”
Detectives Endowment Association President Paul DiGiacomo echoed the sentiment, saying, “Something seen in a short video on social media should not be used to judge an incident in its entirety.”
“Actions on the other hand speak volumes — and we’ve seen that in the Mayor’s support over the past weeks,” he said. “Mayor Adams has expressed his regrets. We will hold him to his word.”
Lopez-Pierre, who is the founder of Black Lives Matter Real Estate Forum and describes himself as an “Agitator, Advocator & Activist,” wrote that he was proud to vote for Adams.
“Black people can trust NYC Mayor Eric Adams to make sure Black businesses get Billions of Dollars in NYC Contracts Mayor’s Office,” he wrote with the video post.
Additional reporting by Tina Moore
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