Eric Adams compares woman complaining about rent to plantation owner
Mayor Eric Adams did not take kindly to one of his constituents wagging her finger at him and criticizing him for the city’s new rent increase rules Wednesday, likening her behavior to that of a plantation owner.
The showdown took place at a community conversation event Adams hosted at Gregorio Luperon High School for Science and Mathematics in Washington Heights.
In footage from the meeting, Adams can be heard asking the woman to stand up after she interrupts him to call out that he “raised the rent.”
Adams’ administration came under fire last week, when the Rent Guidelines Board voted to allow rent hikes of up to 6 percent on the Big Apple’s one million rent-stabilized apartments.
After Adams insisted that he “does not control the [Rent Guidelines Board,” the woman continued her rant into a microphone.
“You said before and after that you supported those rent increases!” the woman insisted while repeatedly jabbing her finger in Adams’ direction.
Adams, however, was not having the constituent’s attitude.
“First, if you’re going to ask a question, don’t point at me and don’t be disrespectful to me,” he said calmly.
“I’m the mayor of this city and treat me with the respect that would deserve to be treated. I’m speaking to you as an adult.
“Don’t stand in front like you treated someone that’s on the plantation that you own.”
Adams’ reprimand was met with a smattering of applause.
“I’m a grown man. I walked into this room as a grown man and I’ll walk out of this room as a grown man,” he continued.
“I answered your question – go to the next table.”
New Yorkers took to social media to share their thoughts on the brief confrontation.
“Good on my Mayor. This isn’t 1950’s Alabama. It’s New York City in 2023 and you don’t cop an attitude like that with a prominent Black man,” one city resident tweeted.
But others were more taken aback by the mayor’s response.
One woman, who noted that she supported Adams’ mayoral campaign, wrote he “could find another avenue to reply to this citizen.”
“He was defensive and arrogant. He made it all about himself instead of responding to her as a citizen of NYC,” she said.
Another online viewer agreed, noting that “Adams is the public servant who works for her and other New Yorkers – at least he’s supposed to.”
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