Eric Adams Compares White Woman Asking Him Question to Plantation Owner

New York City Mayor Eric Adams accused a white woman complaining about rent increases of treating him like "someone that's on the plantation that you own."

The incident took place on Wednesday evening at a "Talk with Eric" town hall in Washington Heights, Manhattan.

Adams was inaugurated as New York mayor in January 2022, after being elected the previous November, making him just the second Black man to have held the post.

During the town hall an elderly woman asked Adams why New Yorkers had experienced "horrible rent increases last year and this year," while repeatedly and angrily pointing at him.

Adams replied: "First if you're going to ask a question don't point at me and don't be disrespectful to me. I'm the mayor of this city and treat me with the respect [which] I 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.

"Give me the respect I deserve and engage in a conversation…treat me with the same level of respect I treat you. So don't be pointing at me, don't be disrespectful to me, speak to me as an adult because I'm a grown man.

"I walked into this room as a grown man and I'm going to walk out of this room as a grown man."

His comments sparked applause from some attendees, but a more mixed response online.

A clip was posted on Twitter by Myles Miller, an employee of New York network WNBC.

He said: "@NYCMayor went off on a woman during his town hall tonight," before quoting part of what Adams said.

The clip has been viewed more than 1.1 million times, with many social media users criticizing the mayor's behavior.

One wrote: "An old woman pointed at him angrily from 30 feet away and he threw a tantrum like that jfc [Jesus F****** Christ]."

Another posted: "She was 100% correct and he deflected. Adams don't care about us. He's got to go."

A third commented: "Outrageous to accuse an old woman of talking to him as if he's on a plantation that she owns. Utterly disgusting racism on his part and gaslighting—she was there begging for affordability!!!"

However not everybody objected to his behavior, with another Twitter user coming to his defense against a "white lady who clearly [thinks] its 1960."

Newsweek has contacted Adams for comment by email.

On Monday a man pelted New York City Hall with slices of pizza, to protest a proposal that could see the city's iconic pizzerias required to cut their carbon emissions by up to 75 percent.