Mayor Adams is facing backlash after invoking a comparison to Jesus and calling Black leaders who have urged him to resign “negroes” who need forgiveness from God during a Black History event Tuesday at Gracie Mansion.
“This is a biblical moment,” Adams said to cheers. “When Jesus was on the cross, he said, ‘God forgive them for they know not what they do.’ All these negroes who are asking me to step down, God forgive them.”
The Rev. Johnnie Green, a Harlem pastor and civil rights leader who runs an organization representing 300 houses of worship in New York, said the mayor’s Tuesday night comments were among the most offensive he has ever heard. The phrase, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” is referenced in Luke 23:34.
“That is horrible, totally horrible for him to compare himself to Jesus Christ. Nothing is more sacrilegious than what he has done. I am appalled by it,” Green told the Daily News.
“I think all spiritual leaders in this town are appalled by it. It just shows you the times in which we live how dangerously wicked people can be… He is no savior, he is no Christ, he is no sacrificial lamb.”
A number of New York’s top Black elected leaders have called on Adams to resign following the Trump Department of Justice’s move to dismiss his federal corruption case without prejudice, meaning the case could be brought back. Adams has been accused by many of entering into a corrupt quid pro quo agreement with the Trump administration to get his charges dropped in exchange for cooperation on immigration matters. The mayor has denied any such agreement.
Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and State Senate Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins have been among those to call on the mayor to resign. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries did not call on Adams to resign but criticized the DOJ arrangement.
During an appearance Wednesday morning on Fox5, Curt Menefee, who is Black, pressed Adams on his choice of words. The anchor noted that “people actually have an issue with that term” and asked the mayor to explain to whom he was speaking.
“Well…who has asked me to step down?” Adams replied.
Menefee further asked the mayor on if he was saying that all New Yorkers who are calling on him to step down are “negroes.”
“I thought I was very clear in my definition,” he said.
“I said pray for them. Wasn’t that what I said?” he added.
Rev. Green, who hasn’t been among those calling for Adams to step down, said the mayor’s use of the term shows how “out of touch” the mayor is with the Black community.
“The fact that he uses the term negro shows you how classless and tasteless he is,” Green said. “It shows you how far he has fallen.”
A call to City Hall was not immediately returned.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, a frequent Adams critic who would become acting mayor if Adams resigns or is removed, said his Gracie speech fits a pattern of “very poor” word choice from the mayor. Williams is among Black leaders who have called on Adams to step down.
“You can see someone who is in major crisis and has no ability to look within, that is a very dangerous person to have running the city,” Williams said. “He is very fallible and he is definitely not the savior.”
Earlier this month, the mayor faced harsh criticism after he said calls for his resignation over the Justice Department’s effort to drop his corruption case amounted to “a modern day ‘Mein Kampf.’” In those comments, Adams said he was “listening to some of Dr. King’s teachings, and he talked about the book ‘Mein Kampf.’ He said if you repeat a lie long enough, loud enough people will believe it is true, and that’s what you’re seeing right now.
In a new legal development, Adams’ lawyer on Wednesday asked the judge in his case to drop his charges with the guarantee they could not be brought back.
In that filing, Alex Spiro blamed former U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon’s bombshell resignation letter for the rounds of fresh calls for Adams to step down, the resignations of four of his top deputies and Gov. Hochul’s proposed plan to impose further checks on the mayor’s power.