SNEAKO - SNEAKO's Full Interview With The Mayor Of NYC Eric Adams

00:00:00.000 What do you call this place? The Mayor's Mansion?

00:00:02.000 This is Gracie Mansion.

00:00:05.000 Every mayor lived here but Bloomberg.

00:00:10.000 This was downsizing his luxury.

00:00:13.000 Why did he not live here?

00:00:15.000 He had a beautiful townhouse.

00:00:18.000 And he wasn't trying to switch.

00:00:22.000 So you live here?

00:00:23.000 Yes, this is...

00:00:25.000 And you must want the best cigars.

00:00:27.000 These cigars are amazing.

00:00:30.000 This is my sister.

00:00:33.000 I'm sick of smoking bad cigars.

00:00:36.000 He wanted to get it right.

00:00:39.000 So he said instead of smoking someone else's cigars,

00:00:43.000 he has his own cigar that he does.

00:00:47.000 And...

00:00:48.000 What is it? Nicaragua, right?

00:00:50.000 Nicaragua and Cuban Cheats.

00:00:51.000 Yeah, yeah.

00:00:52.000 If you were to move those bottles...

00:00:54.000 No, I am. That's why...

00:00:55.000 Yeah, but we're doing this...

00:00:56.000 They're doing their rolling now, right?

00:00:58.000 Yeah.

00:00:59.000 Look, this is what comes in.

00:01:00.000 A pack of four.

00:01:01.000 Perfect.

00:01:02.000 600 out of four.

00:01:03.000 Wow.

00:01:04.000 These are eight, seven years.

00:01:06.000 World's finest.

00:01:07.000 Thank you so much. I appreciate that.

00:01:08.000 My pleasure.

00:01:09.000 I got you.

00:01:10.000 You a cigar guy?

00:01:11.000 Yeah.

00:01:12.000 You are?

00:01:13.000 I didn't know he lived in New York, man.

00:01:14.000 Yeah.

00:01:15.000 This guy?

00:01:16.000 Mm-hmm.

00:01:17.000 You're singing your praises.

00:01:18.000 I appreciate that.

00:01:19.000 No, I do.

00:01:20.000 I don't like a lot of people.

00:01:21.000 I see it.

00:01:22.000 Amber was singing your praises as well.

00:01:23.000 Yeah.

00:01:24.000 The best.

00:01:25.000 The Pierce Morgan ship was the best.

00:01:26.000 Do you mind if we take a group photo?

00:01:27.000 No, without a doubt.

00:01:28.000 Jordan, you want to grab in?

00:01:29.000 Yeah.

00:01:30.000 Yeah.

00:01:31.000 That's awesome.

00:01:32.000 Yeah.

00:01:33.000 I can see it.

00:01:34.000 Yeah.

00:01:35.000 I know.

00:01:36.000 I can see it all.

00:01:37.000 Yeah.

00:01:38.000 I can see it all.

00:01:39.000 I can see it.

00:01:40.000 I can see it all.

00:01:42.000 Yeah.

00:01:43.000 I can see it all.

00:01:44.000 Yeah.

00:01:45.000 I can see it all.

00:01:47.000 Okay.

00:01:48.000 What's up, Chad?

00:01:52.000 All right.

00:01:54.000 One, two, three.

00:01:58.000 One, two, three.

00:02:00.220 Is he in it?

00:02:01.540 I don't know if I was, but this is my...

00:02:03.100 I'll do a few plans.

00:02:05.040 Eagles.

00:02:05.920 These are yours, right?

00:02:07.100 Pleasure to be in.

00:02:08.120 Yeah, no, no, no.

00:02:09.240 Feel that.

00:02:10.920 One, two, three.

00:02:14.440 One, two, three.

00:02:17.200 Wish I had my suit on.

00:02:18.280 Usually I'm...

00:02:18.880 No, you got to float like that.

00:02:21.180 You got that, Justin?

00:02:22.380 Yeah.

00:02:22.840 You rolling also?

00:02:24.060 The photo?

00:02:24.620 Yes.

00:02:25.040 Both.

00:02:26.880 Are you an Eagles fan?

00:02:27.580 Yes, I'm filming in this.

00:02:28.800 All right, cool.

00:02:29.440 Okay.

00:02:31.400 Yeah, cool.

00:02:32.020 Keep the chat open so you can see if there's a problem.

00:02:33.820 I'm not from Southland.

00:02:35.240 Yeah, that's why I was asking.

00:02:37.620 I was making sure.

00:02:38.440 You sure you don't want anything?

00:02:39.680 You good?

00:02:40.340 I'm good for now.

00:02:41.200 Okay.

00:02:44.660 You have the lighter on, sir?

00:02:46.980 I don't have a...

00:02:48.120 You got a lighter on you?

00:02:49.360 That's on swag.

00:02:52.300 I have a cutter.

00:02:53.180 I just need a lighter.

00:02:54.700 You got extra cigar?

00:02:55.960 Yeah, yeah.

00:02:56.920 You got extra cigar?

00:02:58.040 I have a regular lighter.

00:02:58.940 Yeah, there's some upstairs.

00:03:00.500 There's a whole bunch.

00:03:01.300 And in the car.

00:03:01.960 Tell Marv to grab me in the car.

00:03:02.500 I just put my mouth in it.

00:03:03.620 Otherwise, I would...

00:03:04.200 No, no, no, no.

00:03:05.300 We got...

00:03:05.660 I got to tell him he has his box.

00:03:06.920 I have my box in the car.

00:03:08.300 Marv, you want to get some cigars?

00:03:09.360 I don't know.

00:03:09.980 Get this one out of the car?

00:03:12.220 You want the ones in the car?

00:03:13.520 Yeah, yeah.

00:03:14.180 We have a couple.

00:03:14.840 I have a couple in the car.

00:03:20.640 Amber, I'll send you the pictures, too.

00:03:21.920 Okay, yeah.

00:03:28.000 So can I ask, how much do these cigars cost?

00:03:31.440 It cost me $18 each.

00:03:33.680 I bought the whole factory.

00:03:34.700 I went to Cuba to find, to buy an old Gullwing, the Mercedes Gullwing, so you know, the 56.

00:03:40.520 Let the doors go up.

00:03:41.780 I collect those.

00:03:42.480 So I bought one that's like, you need a full restoration.

00:03:44.820 I went to Cuba in quest to find the best cigars. 0.98

00:03:48.420 And it was all garbage. 0.97

00:03:50.420 Because it's like, the soil's depleted and everything. 0.92

00:03:52.780 So I found out where the factory is.

00:03:56.020 I ended up buying half a volcano in Dicaragua, the best.

00:03:59.380 And it cost us like $18.

00:04:05.720 We sell it for $200 a minute.

00:04:12.920 Yeah, Phoebe. 0.99

00:04:13.720 Do you mind if I have one?

00:04:15.180 They're going to get it in my car.

00:04:16.160 They're going to get it in my car.

00:04:17.060 I only have three.

00:04:19.300 Do I have anything in the car?

00:04:20.800 That's three.

00:04:23.920 Where do we have them?

00:04:27.820 Mm-hmm.

00:04:29.380 How long are you guys here for?

00:04:31.700 Don't worry.

00:04:32.280 How long are you guys here for?

00:04:33.480 Are you living here?

00:04:34.720 No, I live in L.A.

00:04:35.560 I'll get her to come over here. 0.99

00:04:36.460 How long are you here for?

00:04:37.840 Yeah, I was told there's another one tomorrow.

00:04:42.480 Get a coffee or something tomorrow.

00:04:44.280 I'm going to give you a box.

00:04:45.280 That would be the best thing.

00:04:46.420 Yeah.

00:04:46.840 You're going to love it.

00:04:47.420 I don't want to be premature, but we can.

00:04:49.120 I mean, we could do something.

00:04:50.600 Like the tape brokers. 0.51

00:04:51.540 I've sent Romania so many boxes. 0.60

00:04:52.920 We could do something just to go with the temporary success.

00:04:56.000 Oh, really?

00:04:56.540 Let me finish this and I'm going to, you know, put the fillers out.

00:05:01.060 Tell us again.

00:05:01.740 You know his show?

00:05:02.820 That's what he smokes.

00:05:03.980 Oh, okay.

00:05:04.620 So that's his.

00:05:05.580 Michael Jordan's favorite cigar.

00:05:07.120 It's like the best.

00:05:08.080 Smell good.

00:05:08.860 Yeah, they only made, we only make, produce about 900 every year.

00:05:12.920 Gotcha.

00:05:13.260 And it has no fillers, no chemicals.

00:05:15.540 It's the most organic cigar you will have.

00:05:18.560 And the best presentation going, you know?

00:05:21.580 It comes in his own Italian-made humidor.

00:05:23.680 Mm-hmm.

00:05:24.200 Four inlays.

00:05:26.180 And you're not lit.

00:05:28.380 Well, yeah.

00:05:31.300 You know, you have another lighter, do you, Ma?

00:05:33.460 Yeah.

00:05:33.660 Someone's getting cigars out of the car?

00:05:35.280 Yeah.

00:05:35.500 Yeah, I have a, I think I have a box.

00:05:38.380 This is in the car.

00:05:39.160 If you have a box, let's grab a box, and I'll drop some off tomorrow.

00:05:43.960 He doesn't want to go in his private stash.

00:05:46.280 You don't have this one in the car?

00:05:48.220 If you don't need to go, use water, hang it down.

00:05:49.880 You see that one?

00:05:51.740 But just try to keep us.

00:05:55.880 That specific box?

00:05:57.060 It's your only baby?

00:05:58.120 Yeah.

00:05:58.840 Yeah.

00:05:59.000 Yeah.

00:05:59.160 I don't know.

00:06:01.000 Is there any one specific you want?

00:06:02.540 No, no, no.

00:06:03.200 Whichever one you guys want.

00:06:05.740 I don't, are you, this wasn't in the car, Sally?

00:06:07.680 Hey, you want some specific you want?

00:06:09.760 Oh, let me go see.

00:06:10.460 Yeah, right on the floor.

00:06:11.700 I'm going to need to begin to know which one it is.

00:06:13.900 Yeah.

00:06:14.160 He's got to pick one for me.

00:06:16.360 Hold on, but, well, let me see if they got, because I'm almost sure I have some more of this.

00:06:20.660 It's been a while.

00:06:21.420 I let it correctly, right?

00:06:22.840 Yeah.

00:06:23.260 Yeah.

00:06:23.420 Yeah.

00:06:24.000 They're leaving it out because it doesn't use, we don't use any fillers in it.

00:06:27.720 It's all leaves.

00:06:28.560 You want to wait for the other one?

00:06:29.920 Yeah, we can do that.

00:06:31.140 Yeah, yeah, let me find it.

00:06:32.320 I'm almost sure I have.

00:06:33.720 Can I borrow that some?

00:06:34.540 Absolutely.

00:06:36.000 And see if they get.

00:06:36.880 Let me light you up.

00:06:37.820 Amber, I'm a filmmaker.

00:06:39.080 Oh, are you?

00:06:39.780 I actually got my master's and screenwriter and all that.

00:06:42.080 I started off on The Backyard Again.

00:06:44.180 Are you familiar with the show?

00:06:45.480 Backyard Again?

00:06:46.300 Yeah, I was Tyrone and Moose on The Backyard Again.

00:06:48.280 Oh, okay.

00:06:49.060 And that kind of like gave me my bread and I started making like documentaries and like

00:06:52.960 feature films and stuff and then I went off to school and everything for it.

00:06:56.320 But now I'm working on a limited series.

00:06:59.860 There you go.

00:07:00.260 I'm a secret agent and we're trying to stop Cloud Chase and Zonis. 1.00

00:07:02.920 And I make music so they send me on missions to go perform at different spots.

00:07:08.120 And like if people like the music too much, they start turning into zombies and I got

00:07:10.980 to take them out and stuff.

00:07:11.660 My pleasure.

00:07:12.220 Oh, that's cool.

00:07:12.560 So when you go and check the hip-hop music, that's cool.

00:07:15.160 That's unbelievable, dude.

00:07:16.160 You can hash it all the way here in the Asheville floor.

00:07:19.120 Yeah, I'm great.

00:07:20.040 Yeah, this is probably going to take an hour or so.

00:07:23.180 It's not just because it's my company, but it's the world's finest.

00:07:26.280 Yeah.

00:07:26.540 Like I've had every single major hotel all over the world is carrying it.

00:07:30.140 My kids mostly.

00:07:31.160 Yeah.

00:07:32.060 It's more of a passion, not for money.

00:07:34.040 Oh, oh, oh.

00:07:34.760 Just totally.

00:07:35.800 Five and 12.

00:07:36.780 Okay.

00:07:37.380 Okay.

00:07:38.220 They're on personality, right?

00:07:39.560 Oh, yeah.

00:07:39.960 They both look exactly like me, too.

00:07:42.540 I got lucky.

00:07:44.960 So we're live right now where this is the mayor's mansion.

00:07:48.620 How do you say this correctly?

00:07:49.940 Gracie Mansion.

00:07:50.860 Gracie Mansion.

00:07:51.540 Yes, yes.

00:07:52.220 The home of Eric Adams.

00:07:53.080 Thank you again for having us, smoking some cigars.

00:07:55.500 Absolutely.

00:07:55.880 Amber Rose for setting this up.

00:07:58.560 And it's a nice summer night in New York.

00:08:00.900 You're a busy guy, so I appreciate you taking the time to do this right now.

00:08:03.620 And, you know, part of being able to stay busy is to do this.

00:08:08.400 At the end of the night, you know, sometime with my son, we'll sit out on the porch and

00:08:13.920 smoke a cigar and just, you know, really just bring down that temperature because it's

00:08:19.260 non-nonstop.

00:08:21.000 Being a mayor is hard, but being a mayor of New York is a mayor on steroids.

00:08:26.000 You know what I mean?

00:08:26.960 You're essentially a governor.

00:08:28.300 It's that level of responsibility.

00:08:30.060 The prestige of the New York mayor is unlike any other in the United States.

00:08:34.280 Well said.

00:08:35.520 And across the globe, you know, we have the UN here, so you have people from across the

00:08:42.120 globe that they come and visit here.

00:08:45.080 And it's an international position.

00:08:47.660 And, you know, just as the role as the mayor of being able to visit a lot of different countries,

00:08:53.340 you know, being back and forth to Africa seven times, China six times, South, Central America,

00:08:59.640 Caribbean.

00:08:59.940 I mean, that's what makes the city.

00:09:02.160 And so when I meet people and they know that I have enough respect to go visit their homeland,

00:09:07.440 then they come here and they embrace their adopted land, you know.

00:09:11.940 But nothing's better than a good cigar and good conversation.

00:09:16.720 Absolutely.

00:09:18.280 Absolutely.

00:09:18.640 I'm still, I'm waiting for my cigar.

00:09:20.820 They're getting it from the, from the car right now.

00:09:23.360 Oh, there it is.

00:09:23.780 There it is.

00:09:24.160 Okay, here we go.

00:09:25.120 Here we go.

00:09:25.620 Look at that.

00:09:26.380 Look at that.

00:09:27.380 There we go.

00:09:31.960 And I love the presentation.

00:09:33.600 Sean, this is Sean's cigars.

00:09:35.700 I like different cigars.

00:09:36.800 But this is definitely, you know, BCK's, you know, the Billionaires Club.

00:09:42.960 Why don't you tell us about it, Sean?

00:09:45.040 So it's eight, seven years, world's finest, comes in a volcanic section of Nicaragua.

00:09:51.980 We use these in seats.

00:09:54.240 It's more of a passion, more than a profitable avenue for me.

00:09:59.200 But I just wanted to have the world's finest, and that's where it is.

00:10:04.480 Okay, thank you.

00:10:05.620 We'll cut it, cut it for you.

00:10:07.320 Okay.

00:10:08.180 So where did you two meet?

00:10:09.440 Was it yesterday the first time that you were able to meet Amber?

00:10:12.920 Yeah, you know, and, and, you know, what's interesting is that, you know, a lot of people,

00:10:18.920 they judge each other based on longevity instead of character and energy.

00:10:24.680 I'm a big energy person, and when I sat down, she was with a good friend of mine,

00:10:30.360 and we, we sat down and just, was just kicking it for a moment.

00:10:33.260 But you could see that authentic energy.

00:10:37.140 People would look at Amber, and they'd see her physical appearance, but the anatomy of

00:10:45.200 her spirit is authentic.

00:10:46.680 Absolutely.

00:10:46.980 And I think it's, I think it's part of your life story.

00:10:50.960 You know, like I said earlier, people, they know our story, our glory, they don't know

00:10:56.120 our story.

00:10:56.800 Right.

00:10:57.240 And you got a powerful story.

00:10:58.700 Thank you.

00:10:59.440 Yeah.

00:10:59.620 I do get judged a lot on the internet for my story.

00:11:03.020 Right, right.

00:11:03.540 But it always, for a woman, excuse me, it's always harder, our triumph and like things

00:11:10.860 that we go through being in survival mode. 0.92

00:11:13.680 Sometimes we get the shitty end of the stick on the internet.

00:11:17.100 But I, you told me a little bit about your story growing up.

00:11:20.960 I don't know if a lot of people know, you know, the stuff that you've been through growing

00:11:24.640 up in New York.

00:11:25.240 And, and it's, you know, it's that evolution and it made me who I am.

00:11:30.800 Yeah, same.

00:11:31.440 You know, uh, the most, um, powerful parts of that journey is that I'm not supposed to

00:11:37.420 be here to mayor of the greatest city on the globe, you know, growing up.

00:11:41.240 I, you know, Amber, I used to walk inside my classroom.

00:11:44.040 I used to get up every morning and I would say, you know, God, please don't make me read.

00:11:48.800 Because if I read that day, all the children in the school, they would mimic me reading.

00:11:55.880 And laugh, I would be in the cafeteria, the gym.

00:11:58.320 They said, let's, let's act like we're reading, you know, because I was undiagnosed dyslexic.

00:12:03.240 And, you know, I was stumbled over the drawers.

00:12:05.660 And I think, I think one or two of the teachers would intentionally have me get up and read.

00:12:11.080 And so I could be humiliated.

00:12:13.260 But, uh, they used to have on the back of the chair, I walk in the classroom, they would 0.98

00:12:16.080 have dumb students on the back of the, back of the chair. 0.96

00:12:18.980 And I just said, you know, why am I even going to school going through this? 1.00

00:12:21.740 What was that, the 80s?

00:12:23.480 No, no, going 70s.

00:12:25.400 70s.

00:12:25.760 Yeah, 70s.

00:12:26.580 And so this was 11, 12, 13, you know, 14.

00:12:32.420 And then around 15, I said, why am I, I'm not even going back in.

00:12:36.360 I, you know, started just hustling, running, running numbers, buying the nickel bags, making

00:12:42.480 eight joints.

00:12:43.380 So $3 to help my amount.

00:12:44.840 And then at 15, my brother and I got arrested, you know, and, um, the cops took us to the

00:12:51.920 103rd precinct where they, they, they kicked us in our groin over and over and over again.

00:12:57.280 We were, we were urinating blood for a week.

00:12:59.540 We never told anyone.

00:13:01.120 We were quiet.

00:13:01.880 I didn't tell my mother until I became an adult.

00:13:04.320 You know, I, you know, I sat down and shared it with her.

00:13:07.120 But it, it pushed me through.

00:13:10.020 And the most powerful part about it is when mommy came to the precinct, the 103rd precinct,

00:13:14.640 and to pick us up.

00:13:16.140 And I heard it.

00:13:16.960 They were all laughing at her.

00:13:18.180 You know, you know, she had arthritis.

00:13:21.000 She came in the precinct, you know, hugging her Bible and carrying in one hand.

00:13:25.700 And I didn't see her, but I heard her.

00:13:28.400 And they said, you know what?

00:13:29.460 They would never be anything.

00:13:30.360 My brother and I, we both got arrested together.

00:13:32.580 They said, they would never be anything.

00:13:34.360 And mommy said, I'm just going to pray.

00:13:36.460 I'm going to pray.

00:13:37.460 And so that day I said, you know what?

00:13:40.280 I sold mommy into slavery and I'm going to buy her back. 0.99

00:13:44.640 You know, you know, you know how back in the day when, when your family members in slavery,

00:13:48.740 you were, you were earning back and buy their freedom.

00:13:50.900 And I said, I'm going to buy mommy freedom.

00:13:52.560 And I went on a four, I like to say a four payment plan.

00:13:56.760 The first payment I paid when I became a captain in that same police department.

00:14:01.240 Second payment came when I became a state senator.

00:14:04.500 Third payment came when I became the first black law president.

00:14:07.340 And I was paid in full and I became the mayor, you know?

00:14:11.060 I know, that's right.

00:14:12.560 That's part of the story.

00:14:13.840 Wow.

00:14:15.080 When did you decide you wanted to go into politics?

00:14:17.780 It's amazing.

00:14:18.400 It's an amazing story.

00:14:19.160 It sure is.

00:14:19.860 I was a, I was a lieutenant.

00:14:24.340 I was a lieutenant in the 88th precinct.

00:14:27.180 And I used to do midnights.

00:14:31.060 88th precinct is in Clinton, it's Clinton Hill.

00:14:33.840 So you're from Brooklyn?

00:14:35.100 Yeah.

00:14:35.440 I was born, I was born in Brownsville.

00:14:37.480 Moved to Queens.

00:14:38.560 Like Mike Tyson.

00:14:39.420 Yes, yes, yes.

00:14:40.640 Matter of fact, Mike Tyson Miro used to be up in Brownsville.

00:14:44.800 You know, I was born in Brownsville.

00:14:46.320 I grew up in Queens and then returned back to Brooklyn.

00:14:53.400 And what happened was, one day I was doing midnights in the 88th precinct.

00:14:58.820 And there was an 11-year-old boy that was arrested either two or three times in one week

00:15:04.320 for an arm run robbery, a gunpoint robbery.

00:15:08.240 And when I came into the precinct, I saw him there cursing everybody out.

00:15:14.540 He was at the front desk when you come in to get processed.

00:15:16.760 And he's cursing everybody out, calling people in Memphis, calling this, calling this.

00:15:20.260 And so I said, you know, I told him, I told him, you know, they had to process him.

00:15:24.340 They put him in the juvenile room, handcuffed him to the bar.

00:15:27.780 And later that night, I said, what's up, Richie?

00:15:30.640 How you doing, brother?

00:15:35.140 And so I told him, when I went to him, and I said, oh, hey, you got another lighter?

00:15:40.440 Yeah, you got a cigar lighter.

00:15:41.820 Yeah, please.

00:15:43.160 I was going to say that.

00:15:43.760 My boy.

00:15:44.540 And so I saw him that night.

00:15:49.300 I went into the juvenile room where he was.

00:15:52.800 And I was like, I was like, yo, young soldier, you've been arrested several times for armed robbery. 1.00

00:15:58.500 He spit at me, cursed at me, you know, F you, F you. 0.99

00:16:01.820 So I went back. 0.99

00:16:02.800 Later that night, I went to the soda machine, brought him some soda and some snacks.

00:16:06.880 And I just put it down.

00:16:08.020 I didn't say anything to him.

00:16:08.780 I just put it down.

00:16:10.200 Around 2 a.m. in the morning, I went back.

00:16:12.420 I said, you need anything else, you know, young blood.

00:16:16.660 And I said, what's going on?

00:16:20.120 You know, why are you getting caught up like this?

00:16:22.320 He broke down and started crying.

00:16:23.620 His mom was on crack, you know, on the streets. 0.99

00:16:31.500 His dad was serving a homicide bid upstate.

00:16:36.360 He was at the school for months and no one checked him.

00:16:39.440 He was raising himself.

00:16:40.420 And so I remember that day so clearly because I said, you know what?

00:16:45.800 By the time he's arrested, he's already downstream.

00:16:50.600 We're pulling him out of the river. 0.95

00:16:52.300 We should have taken our asses upstream and prevented him from falling in the river. 0.96

00:16:56.180 And I said, I can't do this just by being a cop. 0.83

00:17:00.600 And I've always felt that you've got to do something differently.

00:17:05.340 And it's almost 40 years ago, I woke up in a cold sweat.

00:17:10.440 I was sleeping.

00:17:11.340 I woke up in a cold sweat where God said, you're going to be the mayor January 1st, 2022.

00:17:18.220 And I would tell everybody I met, people used to think I was on medication.

00:17:23.220 You know what I'm saying?

00:17:24.580 Everyone I saw throughout the years, I said, listen, I'm going to be mayor January 1st, 2022.

00:17:29.400 And everybody that knew me because it was the message I got from that feeling from God was let everybody know.

00:17:38.900 Because I don't want anybody to think you stumbled on it.

00:17:41.800 Because people got to believe, and my belief in God is so strong, in the ancestors.

00:17:48.380 Every night before going to bed, I give thanks to my ancestors and I give thanks to God.

00:17:53.120 But I stay true to that mission.

00:17:56.040 In spite of all obstacles, if you could have somebody perfectly imperfect like me go from arrested, rejected, dyslexic,

00:18:03.580 and now elected to be the mayor of the biggest city, that's only God.

00:18:07.400 Bars. 0.86

00:18:08.120 But God.

00:18:08.800 Bars, for sure. 0.98

00:18:09.680 Rejected, dyslexic, to elected.

00:18:13.600 Right.

00:18:14.280 To elected.

00:18:15.020 Now, he could have had me.

00:18:17.040 To elected again.

00:18:18.100 Right.

00:18:19.200 Yeah, that part.

00:18:20.300 I could have been elected to a small town somewhere, but no, he said, I'm going to elect you to the most important city on the globe.

00:18:26.480 So, if a cat is sitting on Riker's right now, they can say, wait a minute, my man was in jail.

00:18:32.060 If somebody's sitting in school, they have a learning disability, they say, my man had a learning disability.

00:18:36.000 If someone is in a homeless shelter, see, my man was homeless.

00:18:39.700 Right.

00:18:40.140 So, I think God has used my life to say to people, no matter where you are, it's not who you are.

00:18:45.920 You know, and that's what really impacted when I met you.

00:18:48.840 Your story just resonated with me, you know.

00:18:51.500 It's very similar.

00:18:52.860 Right.

00:18:53.300 Yeah, it is.

00:18:54.200 Right.

00:18:54.720 It's different, but similar, for sure.

00:18:58.320 Overcoming adversity.

00:18:59.960 Right.

00:19:01.180 Overcoming adversity.

00:19:02.580 And every day, people are overcoming adversity.

00:19:06.740 And then when you look at the journey, you know, when I was studying to become a lieutenant, somebody pulled up next to my car, and they called out my name, and I looked to the left just in time, and they had a 9mm.

00:19:17.800 As a matter of fact, Jordan, you was just born, you was just a baby.

00:19:20.700 Yeah, I remember that story.

00:19:21.800 Yep.

00:19:22.160 They had a 9mm shot at my car, and I hit the gas fast enough that it just shot the back of my window.

00:19:28.580 And a bunch of older African-American women, when they saw the story in the paper, they came, and they were just praying for me in front of my house, you know, after what happened.

00:19:42.060 But when you look at that, and that's why what people say right now, you know, when you got indicted, Eric, you were still waking up doing the job, you know.

00:19:51.700 Because people knew only Eric the mayor.

00:19:55.280 They didn't know that. 0.99

00:19:56.240 Man, you know how much shit I went through? 1.00

00:19:57.420 Right. 1.00

00:19:58.580 No, for real.

00:19:59.080 No, for real.

00:20:00.480 Do you still feel like, because sometimes with me, I still feel like, even though I've been out of it for a long time, that I still sometimes feel like I'm in survival mode.

00:20:09.960 Like, I wake up in the middle of the night, and I'm like, there's things that I have to do.

00:20:15.780 Like, I think about the next day, and I think about, because that's been most of my life.

00:20:19.420 Do you still, do you feel like that sometimes?

00:20:21.360 Yes, yes, yes, yes.

00:20:22.660 You know, I think that you hit it on the head.

00:20:27.340 But, you know, because we still are in survival mode.

00:20:31.120 We are still, you know, I'm still fighting every day.

00:20:35.700 You know, when you look at what I'm trying to do in the city, and, you know, many people didn't want me to be elected to be mayor.

00:20:46.580 You know, I mean, I'm a bald-headed, earring-wearing mayor.

00:20:50.520 There's never been a bald-headed, earring-wearing mayor.

00:20:53.980 That's not.

00:20:54.540 That's not.

00:20:55.800 You know, so yes.

00:20:57.060 And you know.

00:20:57.420 And you inspire me, because I'm bald-headed, and I wear earrings.

00:20:59.920 I want to be the mayor one day.

00:21:01.800 You know?

00:21:02.500 You're going to be the mayor.

00:21:03.300 You're going to be the mayor in California.

00:21:05.480 Exactly.

00:21:05.840 See, I relate to that, you know?

00:21:09.700 You're probably the most relatable mayor that I've seen in my lifetime.

00:21:13.020 The former mayor, Bill de Blasio, correct?

00:21:15.900 Mm-hmm.

00:21:16.900 Is he from New York?

00:21:18.440 No.

00:21:18.980 He was raised in Boston.

00:21:21.000 He's from Boston.

00:21:21.760 Yeah.

00:21:22.140 That's not his real name, right?

00:21:23.220 Bill de Blasio is a fake name.

00:21:24.540 Yeah.

00:21:24.980 I'm not.

00:21:25.380 I think it's something with a W.

00:21:27.680 I think he changes his name.

00:21:28.180 Yeah, that's not his real name.

00:21:28.900 It's a real friend?

00:21:29.780 Yeah, yeah.

00:21:30.220 He changes his name.

00:21:31.240 His name is not his real name.

00:21:31.860 So, yeah, he's trying to pose as, like, this Italian New Yorker, but he's really from

00:21:36.800 Boston, and, you know, but you're clearly, one thing, people will say a lot of things

00:21:40.540 about you.

00:21:41.060 You're very clearly a New Yorker born and bred.

00:21:42.940 I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm New, I'm New York.

00:21:45.560 When I walk, when I walk into my press conferences, I'm playing.

00:21:49.960 I'm Jay-Z.

00:21:52.800 You know, I'm straight, straight.

00:21:54.380 Jay-Z, I was going to ask you that.

00:21:55.360 Who are your top three favorite New York artists?

00:21:57.440 Well, number one, my son.

00:21:58.900 That's right, that's right.

00:22:02.360 And we out now, you know what I'm saying?

00:22:05.140 We out now.

00:22:06.280 You know?

00:22:07.280 But, um, um, I, I was a big Biggie guy.

00:22:11.840 Uh, uh, Biggie, uh, uh, Jay-Z, um, I like Ja Rule as well.

00:22:18.300 There's a couple of good artists.

00:22:20.020 Yes, DMX, you know, God rest his soul.

00:22:23.320 Nas, Nas, you know, Nas has a message in his music.

00:22:27.020 And he, he, what I love what Nas did, Nas took the music and turned it into a business.

00:22:32.760 He's, he's doing very well on restaurants.

00:22:34.860 He's doing some good stuff.

00:22:36.460 Um, there, there's a couple of, you know, uh, up and coming, uh, young, uh, musician and

00:22:43.360 artists.

00:22:44.400 Um, I forgot my brother's name that we lost his life in, in California.

00:22:48.360 And he was Pop, Pop Smoke, Pop Smoke, Pop was, was, was so talented, man.

00:22:53.900 I know.

00:22:54.260 His mom and dad, we did something together.

00:22:57.380 Oh, really?

00:22:57.860 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:22:58.720 You know, I got a crazy story about Pop Smoke.

00:23:00.460 Uh-huh.

00:23:00.700 Um, he was, he was on his way to my house the next day because he wanted to bleach one

00:23:07.760 side of his hair.

00:23:08.720 Look at that.

00:23:09.500 Wow.

00:23:09.760 And he, and I saw him out and he was like, how you get your hair so well?

00:23:13.600 I was like, I bleach it.

00:23:14.280 I do it myself.

00:23:14.980 He was like, will you do it?

00:23:16.080 And I, he was going to come to my house the next day.

00:23:18.340 I think I was, um, pregnant with my son.

00:23:21.460 Wow.

00:23:21.820 And that morning I woke up and I saw it on the news and I couldn't believe it.

00:23:26.360 Wow.

00:23:26.880 Yeah.

00:23:27.180 He was only 20 years old.

00:23:28.380 Yes.

00:23:29.500 Wow.

00:23:29.880 That's deep.

00:23:30.780 That's deep.

00:23:31.380 Yeah.

00:23:31.560 Think about that.

00:23:32.100 Think about that talent, man.

00:23:33.320 He's a baby.

00:23:34.140 I was supposed to go with him to California.

00:23:36.520 Wow.

00:23:37.080 I used to write songs for him.

00:23:39.520 That's, he's a, he, he was a good kid.

00:23:41.300 He had a great personality.

00:23:42.120 You wrote songs for Pop Smoke?

00:23:42.680 Yeah.

00:23:43.100 His mom and dad.

00:23:43.820 You write rap songs?

00:23:44.980 Yeah, I do.

00:23:45.460 All right.

00:23:46.020 I got to hear something then, man.

00:23:47.000 So, yeah.

00:23:48.000 So he, he, you know, I met him many years ago before.

00:23:51.080 He was Steven Victor, his manager.

00:23:52.820 Yep.

00:23:53.360 Very tight with him.

00:23:54.400 So we went, we would spend time together.

00:23:57.180 He didn't know much about watches.

00:23:58.540 Yeah.

00:23:58.800 Like, what should I, you know, he's like, you blows and stuff.

00:24:01.120 I'm like, no, no, no.

00:24:01.740 Let's do football tech.

00:24:02.460 Let's do this.

00:24:03.060 Let's do that.

00:24:03.860 Yeah.

00:24:04.080 And the day before we were going to look, he asked me, he says, come on, come to California.

00:24:08.100 I got to house this.

00:24:09.020 Wow.

00:24:09.400 Wow.

00:24:10.240 Steven couldn't go.

00:24:11.200 So he's like, why don't you go with him?

00:24:13.020 And you remember that, right?

00:24:15.260 And I remember not be able to go.

00:24:19.080 Mm.

00:24:19.320 And I got a call from Steven Victor the following day and said, you know.

00:24:24.080 So my son's father was business partners with Steven Victor.

00:24:27.500 That's how I knew Pop Smoke.

00:24:28.480 Oh, University Music Group?

00:24:29.660 Yeah, that's why he. 1.00

00:24:30.320 No shit? 0.99

00:24:31.520 I'd rather not talk about that. 0.99

00:24:32.500 Oh, okay.

00:24:33.020 But that's how I knew Pop Smoke through Steven Victor.

00:24:35.940 Oh, rest in peace Pop Smoke.

00:24:37.020 Yeah.

00:24:37.200 What are your thoughts on drill music?

00:24:39.840 Because that drill era, I mean, it started in Chicago, but New York really took it to another level.

00:24:44.140 Right.

00:24:44.520 Do you think it had an effect on the culture of crime?

00:24:46.720 Yeah.

00:24:47.540 And let me, you know, because Jordan and I talk about this often.

00:24:50.760 You know, it's not the music, it's how the music is being exploited.

00:24:56.300 And there are clear correlations.

00:24:59.320 When you talk about urinating on somebody's grave right after they die, when you talk about, you know, some of the music being used to feed the violence.

00:25:09.400 Because the artistry, I had a group, I had a meeting at City Hall with all of the top drill music, Mayno put it together for me.

00:25:19.140 And, you know, when they understood what I was saying and I was able to show them the correlation where you had a shooting in one morning and then the next morning you had people desecrated in the grave of the person and his crew got upset.

00:25:34.640 Then you had another shooting in the afternoon.

00:25:36.080 And so the industry is using that violence to sell records and is using that violence for notoriety.

00:25:44.420 And we're using our, we're losing our young soldiers.

00:25:46.760 So do the music, you know, but if, if, if, if you could only imagine if God forbid someone took out my son and the next thing you know I see you on YouTube talking about how happy you are to take out a son.

00:25:58.500 You're compelling me to react.

00:26:00.080 Right.

00:26:00.580 And that's what the, that's what the industry was doing.

00:26:03.640 And we, you know, we had a conversation with the industry and say, you know, you guys are making paper, but I'm seeing too many, you know, too many bodies lying, that's lining up because of what you are exploiting on social media.

00:26:15.780 So it's not about the lyrics.

00:26:17.160 It's not about the music.

00:26:18.300 It's about when it's used for retaliatory action, taking out other young people.

00:26:22.400 Because we're, we're losing a whole generation, man, to, to this violence.

00:26:27.020 And, you know, young people at that age, they have so much heart, you know, and when that heart turns into taking out another young person, that can't happen.

00:26:38.140 Well, it's calmed down quite a bit.

00:26:39.520 Yeah.

00:26:39.760 The New York drill music was really big post-COVID.

00:26:42.580 How were you responsible in slowing that down?

00:26:46.060 Because I, I personally, I feel a lot safer walking around, taking the train than today, than I did 2020, 2021.

00:26:52.800 Let me, let me tell you what's happening in the city.

00:26:55.520 I inherited a city where crime was off the hook in the trains, over proliferation of guns on our streets, particularly in communities of color. 0.96

00:27:04.300 No business wanted to come here.

00:27:05.880 You know, things were just, just off the chain.

00:27:10.200 Right now, three years, three years later, they told me it was going to take me five years to turn around the city.

00:27:15.120 Three years later, we have more jobs in New York in the city's history.

00:27:19.860 We broke the record 11 times.

00:27:22.740 We dropped unemployment around black and brown people by 20%.

00:27:26.500 We took 22,000 illegal guns off our streets.

00:27:30.540 This last six months, five months, and we're going to do it in the sixth, we had the lowest number of shootings and homicides in the history of the city.

00:27:39.900 Because that's what I'm saying.

00:27:41.920 Every other major crime, robbery, burglary, grand loss, everything is decreasing.

00:27:49.360 And so you feel, the goal is to make people safe statistically, but also feel safe.

00:27:55.260 You know, we got 4.6 million people that ride out subway every day.

00:27:58.660 4.6 million, we only have five felonies on our subway every day.

00:28:02.420 Out of 4.6 million.

00:28:04.680 But what has happened in the city is you wake up every day and you see the worst thing that happens in the city of 8.5 million people.

00:28:12.280 And you say to yourself, oh my God, this stuff is out of order.

00:28:15.700 Oh man, this city has come back.

00:28:17.160 Our nightlife, Richie, as you know, our nightlife, restaurant open.

00:28:21.800 People say, well, you know what, you hang out all the time.

00:28:24.040 No, brother, I got to have a nightlife.

00:28:25.600 I got to make sure, because if my restaurants are open, my private clubs are open, my clubs are open, then my waiters, my busboys and girls, my cooks.

00:28:34.280 Everyone's flourishing.

00:28:34.920 We employ a lot of people.

00:28:35.840 Right, right.

00:28:36.800 And I'll be honest.

00:28:37.440 The hospitality industry employs a lot of people.

00:28:39.280 You know, a lot.

00:28:40.500 $30 billion industry.

00:28:42.080 $30 billion industry.

00:28:43.580 I live in L.A.

00:28:44.480 And everything is closed down.

00:28:46.740 I mean, all the restaurants are closed down.

00:28:49.360 All the stores are closed down.

00:28:51.080 It's really, really bad over here.

00:28:52.420 You know, I come to New York maybe like once a year, and I've been here for a week, and it is cracking out here.

00:29:00.000 Everybody's outside.

00:29:01.200 Everyone's open.

00:29:02.400 Everyone's working, making money.

00:29:04.780 You know, there's a huge difference from Los Angeles to New York.

00:29:08.080 We say we outside.

00:29:10.140 Yeah.

00:29:11.920 We outside.

00:29:13.320 We outside.

00:29:14.220 We outside.

00:29:15.320 No, we really are outside right now.

00:29:16.880 We really are.

00:29:17.840 This is outside.

00:29:18.820 This is a beautiful place.

00:29:19.880 The water's here.

00:29:20.720 We do a lot of entertainment on the 10th, you know, a lot of cultural events, Diwali, African-American, Juneteenth.

00:29:30.860 I made Juneteenth a paid holiday here in the city.

00:29:34.940 So this is a place where people never were able to come here the way it is now, you know.

00:29:41.820 And I wanted people to feel empowered, man.

00:29:43.780 These are your tax dollars.

00:29:44.980 And people come here, and they feel empowered.

00:29:48.460 It's the first time they come in here.

00:29:49.800 It's about being mayor is substantive and symbolic.

00:29:54.480 The substantive is bringing down crime, bringing jobs, and all that good stuff.

00:29:57.820 But the symbolism of touching their lives.

00:30:01.240 Like last year, I got re-baptized on Rikers Island, our jail, with the inmates.

00:30:06.620 I was on the road with the...

00:30:08.360 You got baptized at Rikers?

00:30:09.020 Yes.

00:30:09.540 I was on the road with all the inmates, and I got re-baptized with Reverend Sharpton and Reverend Daughtry, you know, who was one of my spiritual leaders.

00:30:18.320 And those inmates sitting on that road with those brothers, and they say, you know, the mayor's here getting baptized with us.

00:30:24.520 You know, I've been on Rikers Island more than any man in the history of the city, you know, because remember I said I'm dyslexic.

00:30:30.480 But 30 to 40 percent of those inmates have a learning disability.

00:30:35.680 So the real crime is not only what they did on the street.

00:30:38.620 The real crime is that we didn't give them the resources that they needed.

00:30:42.960 Because I could have easily kept, you know, selling weed.

00:30:46.940 I could have easily continued to run numbers.

00:30:49.740 If I didn't stumble and learn I was dyslexic, I don't know where I would be right now.

00:30:54.860 And that is what I have to fight to change.

00:30:57.900 Is part of your objective getting the New Yorkers who left to come back?

00:31:02.420 I was born here, and then after COVID, when things really, the city was shaky for a while.

00:31:06.720 I left to Florida for two years, and I recently came back in December.

00:31:10.660 And things seem to be on the right track, and I love it again.

00:31:13.960 But how much of your goal as mayor is trying to get people who went to Texas, went to Florida?

00:31:18.840 How do we get those people back?

00:31:20.020 Yeah, many of them fled.

00:31:21.960 And I like to say this is a, you know, a paraphrase Arnold Schwarzenegger moment.

00:31:27.100 Well, they'll be back.

00:31:30.640 And our slogan.

00:31:32.440 Right, right, right.

00:31:33.620 I love New York again.

00:31:34.520 Again, you know.

00:31:36.080 I love New York was a famous slogan.

00:31:38.720 We now say, I love New York again.

00:31:41.300 You know, because we're falling, people are falling in love again with New York.

00:31:46.140 No matter where you go on the globe, we have the best food, the best diversity, you know, a great educational system.

00:31:56.900 Our streets are getting cleaner and cleaner every day, safety.

00:32:00.120 And what many people don't want to acknowledge, we have the best shorties.

00:32:03.680 Oh, come on, man.

00:32:05.140 Hands down.

00:32:05.620 That's a controversial state.

00:32:06.800 That's a controversial state.

00:32:08.140 Hands down.

00:32:09.820 Hands down.

00:32:10.880 Miami closed second.

00:32:12.420 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:32:13.300 Great.

00:32:14.200 L.A. third.

00:32:14.980 I don't want to disrespect Dan Burr.

00:32:16.180 I'm in Philly, so.

00:32:18.240 Oh, Philly.

00:32:19.060 You guys won the Super Bowl.

00:32:20.540 Yeah.

00:32:21.220 See?

00:32:22.140 How did you make your way to L.A. from Philly?

00:32:25.300 Oh, that's a long story.

00:32:27.840 That is a long story.

00:32:29.020 But I've been in L.A. for 15 years.

00:32:30.900 Wow.

00:32:31.320 Yeah.

00:32:32.080 I have my kids out there, so that's all they know is L.A.

00:32:35.460 You know?

00:32:36.100 Which city?

00:32:38.680 Sherman Oaks.

00:32:39.560 Okay.

00:32:40.080 Yeah.

00:32:40.780 Okay.

00:32:41.220 Good city.

00:32:42.000 Two legs close to all of it.

00:32:43.780 Yeah.

00:32:44.260 It's nice.

00:32:44.960 It's suburban.

00:32:46.100 Right, right.

00:32:46.820 You know, it's nice.

00:32:47.400 It's good for the kids.

00:32:48.240 Jordan did a stint.

00:32:49.200 You did a stint.

00:32:49.620 Yeah, I was working at Universal Pictures.

00:32:52.080 Okay.

00:32:52.360 And I was staying on Sarah Street off of, like, North Pass, Alameda.

00:32:55.860 So I used to ride my bike through Sherman Oaks all the time, man.

00:32:59.140 It's nice over there.

00:32:59.800 Oh, my goodness.

00:33:00.500 It's very calm.

00:33:01.360 It's very calm.

00:33:02.280 I actually got a question for both of you.

00:33:04.080 Look at that cigar.

00:33:04.700 Hold on.

00:33:04.880 Look at the ashes on that cigar.

00:33:06.000 That's good ash.

00:33:06.660 Look at that.

00:33:07.660 Is that how it's supposed to be?

00:33:09.020 Yeah.

00:33:09.660 It is.

00:33:10.420 I don't know anything about cigars.

00:33:11.920 Come on, now. 0.87

00:33:12.920 Sneeko keeps asking me. 0.97

00:33:14.500 I'm going to ash you like a cigarette. 0.90

00:33:16.460 He taps him on. 0.98

00:33:17.480 You don't even ask you.

00:33:18.300 Look at that.

00:33:18.640 Look at that.

00:33:19.060 That's the perfect thing.

00:33:20.460 He's a professional right there.

00:33:21.720 He got the box circles.

00:33:23.740 This is it.

00:33:26.060 Pussed down right there.

00:33:27.260 I ain't mad at that.

00:33:28.340 Yeah, the cigar was a bit too much for me.

00:33:30.120 I had to dive mine out.

00:33:32.320 When did you two realize you were superheroes?

00:33:34.520 At what age?

00:33:36.180 Because you're both amazing in your own field.

00:33:38.940 But when did you realize, you know what?

00:33:41.140 Can't nobody mess with me.

00:33:42.360 I am who I am.

00:33:43.420 I'm Eric Adams.

00:33:44.220 I'm Amber Rose.

00:33:44.900 So, I used to tell my friends, and they'll tell you to this day, because I'm still friends

00:33:50.260 with a lot of people that have been like 30 years.

00:33:52.580 Love it.

00:33:53.500 And I was about 10 years old, and my friends would be like, when I'm 16, I'm going to have

00:34:00.260 a baby.

00:34:00.960 When I'm 15, I'm going to have a baby.

00:34:02.980 And I used to be like, I'm going to live in Hollywood, and I'm going to be famous,

00:34:07.080 and I'm going to get the hell up out of here, and I'm going to have a better life.

00:34:11.240 And I used to say that all the time, and my friends, my friends, yeah, my friends used

00:34:15.400 to be like, girl, you're delusional, you, you know, I was homeless with my mom when I 0.55

00:34:19.780 was 15 years old.

00:34:20.800 Three, three. 0.98

00:34:21.620 And, and they used to say, you don't have nowhere to live, you're going from house to

00:34:26.840 house, you know, trying to get, we used to get, there was a Chinese corner store,

00:34:32.420 and the chicken wings were 25 cents.

00:34:34.860 And I used to go get, you know, two chicken wings, maybe a little fried rice.

00:34:38.680 Right, right, right.

00:34:39.500 If I had a couple dollars, or I would get a, maybe if I had a dollar, I would get a

00:34:44.080 scratch off and hope that I would win $20.

00:34:47.240 And I just, I don't know, I guess kind of like what you said, how you used to pray and

00:34:52.920 manifest it, and it happened because there was no other option for you.

00:34:57.560 That's kind of how I felt.

00:34:58.840 I felt like there was no, I didn't know how it was going to happen.

00:35:02.680 Right, right, right, right, right.

00:35:03.840 And it just, it happened in a way that I did not expect, but I just knew that I wanted

00:35:11.020 a better life.

00:35:12.480 Isn't that something?

00:35:13.200 Yeah.

00:35:13.360 You know, and, you know, living homeless or the verge of homeless, to push through that

00:35:20.340 is not an easy thing to do.

00:35:23.540 Well, my mother had mental health issues. 1.00

00:35:26.600 Her mom committed suicide in front of her when she was 10 years old.

00:35:30.700 And so, her and her siblings.

00:35:34.520 So, my uncle was in prison for murder, and then he got out of prison, overdosed and died.

00:35:44.400 Your mother's brother?

00:35:45.260 Yeah, he did 38 years, and they let him out, and then he got out.

00:35:50.220 My other uncle was a heroin addict.

00:35:52.560 My aunt overdosed and died.

00:35:54.540 So, my whole family's pretty much dead from overdoses, which is why I've never done a

00:36:01.640 drug in my life.

00:36:02.760 I smoked my little cigarette.

00:36:04.320 I've never smoked weed.

00:36:05.400 I've never done coke.

00:36:06.380 I've never done ecstasy.

00:36:08.280 And I think that was a blessing for me, in a sense, going to a lot of funerals and seeing

00:36:15.060 a lot of people die from drugs.

00:36:17.260 It made me never want to touch a drug in my life, and it really saved my life.

00:36:22.360 So, yeah, I never told that story.

00:36:26.180 I'm telling it on stream now, but, yeah, I never really told that story because, again, 0.97

00:36:32.760 I just, I let people talk shit about me on the internet. 0.98

00:36:36.220 Right, right, right. 0.99

00:36:36.980 And I deal with it, and I say, you know what?

00:36:40.560 It's a blessing and a curse. 0.97

00:36:42.220 I can deal with people talking shit on the internet, but it provides me a life that I've 0.93

00:36:47.140 never had before for me and my children. 0.98

00:36:49.400 Well said, well said.

00:36:50.200 And you know what's interesting, you know, whenever you campaign, you have to, you go

00:36:56.880 out in the street, you hand out flyers, you tell, you know, we have information about

00:37:00.500 where you are.

00:37:01.840 And I'll never forget when I was campaigning to become a state senator.

00:37:05.320 You get up early in the morning, you'll give out thousands and thousands of flyers.

00:37:08.960 And people would take it and look at it and see, oh, man, this is the Brother 400 Black,

00:37:14.180 man.

00:37:14.360 We love you.

00:37:15.040 We're with you.

00:37:15.580 We're with you.

00:37:16.680 And then that one person would take my flyer and look at it and throw it on the floor and

00:37:19.940 like, you know, F you, man.

00:37:21.060 I'll never vote for you.

00:37:22.460 I would forget about the thousand that had nothing but positive affirmation.

00:37:27.640 It's like that sometimes, yeah.

00:37:28.640 And I remember that one person.

00:37:30.940 It gives you drive.

00:37:32.160 You understand what I'm saying?

00:37:33.480 It gives you drive.

00:37:34.660 Right.

00:37:35.160 And we have to learn how to ignore the critic and focus on people who are showing you love.

00:37:44.280 The good people, yeah, that are showing you love.

00:37:46.240 Yes, absolutely.

00:37:47.140 And nothing personifies it more than the internet. 1.00

00:37:51.260 I mean, the social media, I mean, you have a whole bunch of losers, man. 0.98

00:37:57.040 That are trying to, that's trying to, they look at you and they probably, their life is 0.98

00:38:03.880 not what it is.

00:38:04.640 Instead of saying to themselves, let me learn from what Amber did.

00:38:08.300 Yeah.

00:38:08.480 You know, let me reach out to her and say, hey, sister, what are some of the positive things

00:38:12.820 you can tell me?

00:38:13.680 How did you overcome so I can overcome it?

00:38:16.300 If people spend their energy doing that, they won't be in that dark place that you're in.

00:38:21.780 You know how I overcame that?

00:38:23.700 Mm-hmm.

00:38:24.080 I realized that a comment on social media is not as bad as how my life was growing up.

00:38:31.540 So, it just, you know what, it conditioned me for this life that I have now.

00:38:38.660 Love it, love it, love it.

00:38:39.580 Because I said, okay, you know, I'm bald, I look like Mr. Clean, okay, cool.

00:38:42.800 You know, that doesn't compare to what I've been through in my life, so I can laugh it

00:38:48.040 off and just, you know.

00:38:48.780 I love that.

00:38:49.720 And, you know, just text them back and say, you look like Mr. Clean's grandmother.

00:38:55.200 You know?

00:38:56.680 That's pretty funny.

00:38:57.520 Tell me about the tattoo.

00:38:58.520 You know, Jordan and I are going to get a tattoo.

00:39:00.200 Yeah, man.

00:39:01.020 Do it.

00:39:01.260 What's up?

00:39:01.900 We ain't got none.

00:39:02.900 We ain't got none.

00:39:03.460 No, don't get any.

00:39:04.300 Don't get any.

00:39:04.820 Neither one of us.

00:39:05.480 I know.

00:39:05.860 People are like, how you going to say that?

00:39:07.160 But don't get any tattoos.

00:39:08.440 What's your favorite tattoo?

00:39:10.740 I like my Hollywood.

00:39:11.420 I was going to say, I'm going to lie right there.

00:39:13.000 Because I always said, I was going to live in Hollywood.

00:39:15.540 Hold on now.

00:39:16.160 Now, who's this here?

00:39:17.700 That is a really bad portrait of my mom that I need to get fixed.

00:39:21.960 Because that really doesn't look like her, and I'm mad at the tattoo article.

00:39:26.580 But, yeah, I have my two pugs right here. 1.00

00:39:29.080 I had them for 15 years.

00:39:30.240 They were like my first children, before I had children.

00:39:33.360 They actually recently just died in the last two years.

00:39:36.260 And I love dogs.

00:39:37.360 I want a dog so bad.

00:39:38.600 I know.

00:39:39.180 I know.

00:39:40.280 Let them run around.

00:39:41.420 I might get a girl. 0.98

00:39:43.540 I got my 215 for Philly.

00:39:46.180 I got Slash from Guns N' Roses because he's biracial like me.

00:39:51.520 And I was just always a huge fan my whole life of Slash.

00:39:55.500 And he has a black mom and a white dad as well.

00:39:58.440 And I don't know.

00:39:59.240 I just always thought he was cool.

00:40:00.480 Now, your mom is black? 1.00

00:40:01.940 And my dad is white.

00:40:03.800 Italian?

00:40:04.640 Italian-Irish.

00:40:05.620 Okay.

00:40:05.880 Yeah, okay.

00:40:06.200 Yeah, from Philly.

00:40:06.940 You know, East Coast.

00:40:07.700 Italian-Irish.

00:40:08.240 Yeah.

00:40:08.840 How did you grow up being biracial?

00:40:14.500 Sometimes it was difficult because I'm more white passing.

00:40:19.120 So I always had to be like, I'm black.

00:40:22.200 I'm black too.

00:40:22.900 I swear. 0.76

00:40:23.580 I swear.

00:40:24.020 And then they would see my mom and they would be like, girl, you're adopted. 1.00

00:40:27.880 Shut up. 1.00

00:40:28.260 It's not your mama. 1.00

00:40:30.680 But it was interesting.

00:40:32.480 Yeah.

00:40:32.900 I love being biracial though.

00:40:34.880 You're what, Sean?

00:40:35.600 I am, uh, my mother is French-Australian.

00:40:39.740 My father's Indian.

00:40:41.180 Mm.

00:40:41.620 That makes me black. 0.96

00:40:42.820 Do you have biracial?

00:40:44.680 Richie, what do you mean, Richie?

00:40:46.580 My dad's Moroccan-French and my mom's Puerto Rican.

00:40:49.940 Mm.

00:40:50.280 Oh, wow.

00:40:50.880 And what do you think, though?

00:40:52.080 Your fifth.

00:40:52.740 I am, my mom's Filipino.

00:40:54.840 Yeah, my mom's Filipino.

00:40:56.000 My dad is half black and quarter Jewish, quarter white.

00:41:00.660 Mm.

00:41:01.520 And look, it's just sitting here.

00:41:03.260 Mm-hmm.

00:41:03.660 You know that?

00:41:04.100 Look at, look at the whole flavor, the mix.

00:41:06.240 Yeah, yeah.

00:41:07.180 New York mix here.

00:41:08.420 You know, New York mix.

00:41:10.040 I love it.

00:41:10.140 Is it difficult being a black politician?

00:41:14.440 In a, see, I mean, it's majority white.

00:41:16.340 What's that like?

00:41:18.160 Well, you know, and I always talk about when I, when I walk around City Hall at night.

00:41:24.220 Yeah.

00:41:25.160 In City Hall, you have all the mayors, their portraits are up on the wall.

00:41:30.020 Yeah.

00:41:30.220 And routinely I walk around and I stop at David Dinkins' picture because David Dinkins was

00:41:38.000 the only other African-American man.

00:41:40.800 He was the only other mayor of color in the city of New York.

00:41:43.200 Are you the first black guy?

00:41:44.020 Dinkins? 0.55

00:41:44.240 I'm the second.

00:41:44.780 The second.

00:41:45.060 He was the first.

00:41:45.900 Dinkins? 0.55

00:41:46.280 30 years ago.

00:41:47.060 Yeah, yeah.

00:41:47.840 I remember Dinkins.

00:41:48.280 30 years ago.

00:41:49.260 I remember Dinkins.

00:41:50.380 And I stand in front of this picture and I just, you know, I've talked with him.

00:41:54.620 I, you know, it's, it's, the weight is unbelievable.

00:41:58.740 And, you know, God, I believe God, whatever I went through, he prepared me for this moment.

00:42:06.760 And it's, it's challenging because, you know, people don't think that you're able to, you

00:42:13.780 know, to overcome, you know, Hey man, I didn't go to Harvard and Yale.

00:42:17.400 I went to jail.

00:42:18.100 I got a lot of bars.

00:42:21.060 You know what I'm saying?

00:42:21.860 I just think about that.

00:42:22.420 He should have been a rapper over here.

00:42:24.500 But think about that for a moment.

00:42:26.300 You know?

00:42:27.220 Right, exactly. 0.99

00:42:28.200 So, you're, you're, you're, you're never, you are, you are too black for others and you're 1.00

00:42:33.520 not black enough for your folks. 0.99

00:42:36.020 You know, so you're always in, you're always in this place where, um, yeah, you drop black 1.00

00:42:42.660 unemployment, you know, yeah, you gave high speed broadband and nice to deserve this.

00:42:47.160 You paid off college tuition for foster care of children.

00:42:50.540 But there's always, when you have other people telling your story, then people don't really

00:42:56.480 know your story.

00:42:57.900 And so that's why, that's why it's powerful what, you know, what you're doing, Amber, and

00:43:02.060 what you're doing, because what, one of the positives of social media, you can bypass

00:43:08.560 those who control the narratives for years.

00:43:11.800 Right.

00:43:12.300 You know, I'm no longer dependent on those who control the narrative.

00:43:17.160 Now I can sit down with someone like you, where you can stream and you can hear the

00:43:20.900 long version and not the soundbite, you know, and people are, you know, I've, I've done,

00:43:25.440 you know, a couple of, uh, platforms.

00:43:27.700 I saw you do a stream a couple of weeks ago.

00:43:30.180 Yeah.

00:43:30.540 Walking around on this, um, don't remember his name, but that was pretty interesting.

00:43:33.660 Yeah.

00:43:33.940 It was an IRL stream.

00:43:35.120 Right, right, right.

00:43:35.740 Right, right, right, right.

00:43:37.420 And a good guy too, man.

00:43:38.180 We had a nice conversation when he sat down and he had a powerful, so Philly too.

00:43:42.160 Okay.

00:43:42.680 He had a powerful story, you know, with his family, similar.

00:43:45.620 Uh, and, uh, now he's doing his stream and just having real conversations.

00:43:49.820 People need real, authentic conversations, you know, and that's my goal, man.

00:43:55.960 My goal is so the next person that comes after me, they know they can do it and they don't

00:44:00.420 have to pretend.

00:44:01.860 Just be who you are, man.

00:44:03.240 People, people are, people are going to critique you.

00:44:05.860 They're going to tweet you.

00:44:07.260 They're going to say all sorts of negative things, no matter what you do.

00:44:09.840 So you're masterful to be who you are.

00:44:11.200 That's a fact.

00:44:11.580 And you're right, it does give a voice to a lot of losers that before the internet,

00:44:16.100 they never had a voice.

00:44:17.120 Their opinion never mattered at all.

00:44:19.360 It is about drowning that out.

00:44:20.360 Their opinion still don't matter.

00:44:21.180 At all, right?

00:44:22.440 Their opinion still don't matter.

00:44:23.580 But they're heard now.

00:44:24.640 Right.

00:44:25.240 Yeah, they are heard.

00:44:26.140 And they call us.

00:44:27.360 Like you see what's playing out on our streets right now, you know, in, um, in America,

00:44:32.820 you know, people out there.

00:44:33.840 I mean, you had two people today, um, elected officials that were assassinated.

00:44:38.300 I saw that.

00:44:39.200 Yeah.

00:44:39.340 You know, in Minnesota.

00:44:40.280 They went to their homes, they assassinated, uh, the wife and the husband, all because

00:44:46.220 of their political position.

00:44:48.720 Yeah, it's sad.

00:44:49.680 Right.

00:44:50.140 You know, think about that.

00:44:51.060 That's, that's, that's, that's, that is the level of hate, man.

00:44:54.440 Pain is real, man.

00:44:55.460 People are real.

00:44:56.460 You know, you talk about your mother going through, uh, mental health issues.

00:45:00.280 That's where we are now.

00:45:02.380 People are in a dark place, man.

00:45:04.280 When you're in a dark place, you want to, you want to hurt yourself and you want to hurt

00:45:08.220 others.

00:45:08.820 Yeah.

00:45:09.260 You know?

00:45:09.600 You know, that's, that's what we say.

00:45:10.980 Hurt people hurt people.

00:45:12.460 Without a doubt.

00:45:13.800 You see it over and over again.

00:45:15.140 You know, can I, because people do say that, right?

00:45:18.100 Mm-hmm.

00:45:18.460 I really don't believe that statement.

00:45:21.920 Tell me about it.

00:45:22.600 What?

00:45:22.960 Hurt people hurt people.

00:45:25.000 Because I feel like there's so many, I'm hurt, you were hurt, I'm sure you were hurt.

00:45:29.000 I don't believe that either.

00:45:30.900 Yeah, because it's like, that's a powerful statement.

00:45:32.740 Yeah.

00:45:32.900 We've all been hurt.

00:45:34.100 We've all been hurt.

00:45:34.220 We've all been poor.

00:45:35.320 We didn't turn to violence.

00:45:36.660 Right.

00:45:37.080 We didn't, we didn't go out and kill people because we felt bad.

00:45:40.960 Mm-hmm.

00:45:41.180 You know, I just, you know, and I hate to be insensitive.

00:45:44.060 I feel like there's just weak-minded people.

00:45:46.100 I was going to say, weak people hurt people.

00:45:47.320 Weak people hurt people.

00:45:48.820 I like that.

00:45:49.380 I like that. 0.93

00:45:49.600 Some of the most privileged people kill people.

00:45:51.520 Yeah.

00:45:52.140 Mm-hmm.

00:45:52.660 I mean, some hurt people.

00:45:53.780 Some of the most, some of the richest people in the world hurt people.

00:45:56.540 Mm-hmm.

00:45:57.040 Mm-hmm.

00:45:57.860 Think about it.

00:45:58.340 If you're hurt, you know how it feels.

00:46:00.140 Yeah.

00:46:00.300 So you don't do that to others because you know how it feels.

00:46:02.960 Yes.

00:46:03.500 So I feel that if you're hurt and you go through a lot of mental trauma, whatever, you actually

00:46:08.280 become better.

00:46:09.220 I'm a better mother because of what my mother went through.

00:46:12.560 I'm a better mother to my children because I don't make the same mistakes my mother did

00:46:16.680 with me.

00:46:17.160 Mm-hmm.

00:46:17.320 You will never want to feel.

00:46:18.620 Yeah.

00:46:19.420 Your kids feel what you felt.

00:46:21.040 Absolutely.

00:46:21.840 So when you're hurt, you want to not hurt people.

00:46:25.840 I think you hurt less people.

00:46:26.680 But what he said, weak people hurt people.

00:46:29.060 Mm-hmm.

00:46:29.320 And it's really true because it's like, who cares about a political view?

00:46:33.480 When I, when I endorsed Donald Trump, I still had a bunch of friends.

00:46:37.040 My personal assistant that's been with me for 10 years, he voted for Kamala.

00:46:42.500 Mm-hmm.

00:46:42.680 I didn't fire him.

00:46:43.980 Right, right, right.

00:46:44.560 I said, we live in a free country.

00:46:45.980 You're allowed to make your own decisions and who you want to vote for.

00:46:50.120 That's okay, you know?

00:46:51.840 But I, I feel like a lot of the times it's like, let's just have different political views.

00:46:56.320 We can all coexist together.

00:46:58.740 It doesn't have to be that bad.

00:47:01.440 Why did you decide, you know, um, to go with Donald?

00:47:07.180 You know, what was the reason?

00:47:08.560 What, what, what, what was the reason that you said, you know what?

00:47:11.300 Because you were a Democrat before.

00:47:13.420 I was.

00:47:14.000 And you decided that, hey, now I want to go with.

00:47:15.980 I posted a picture of a trash, overflowing trash can. 0.64

00:47:19.000 I said, what is Donald Trump doing here?

00:47:20.660 Mm-hmm.

00:47:20.880 That's what I posted the last election.

00:47:22.700 Mm-hmm.

00:47:23.000 So, my political views changed drastically because I felt slighted.

00:47:28.460 I felt like the media lied to me.

00:47:31.240 Mm-hmm.

00:47:31.360 And I don't like to be lied to.

00:47:32.860 Mm-hmm.

00:47:33.360 And when I saw the five second clips of him saying things and I'm like, oh, this is a bad guy. 0.97

00:47:38.100 He's racist. 0.92

00:47:39.040 Mm-hmm. 1.00

00:47:39.220 He doesn't like black people, right? 0.95

00:47:41.020 That's not true at all. 0.95

00:47:41.800 And then I saw the whole clip and I'm like, oh, y'all really played in my face.

00:47:47.700 It pissed me off.

00:47:49.000 That's true.

00:47:49.180 I was upset.

00:47:50.280 That's me here.

00:47:50.860 I know him personally.

00:47:52.300 He's probably one of the nicest guys.

00:47:53.780 He's one of the nicest, funniest people.

00:47:56.320 I know.

00:47:56.680 And he loves black people.

00:47:58.300 He does.

00:47:59.040 I belong to Mar-a-Lago.

00:48:00.780 Yeah.

00:48:01.540 At that club, there's more black people working.

00:48:04.060 Mm-hmm. 0.66

00:48:04.900 More immigrants working than white people.

00:48:06.960 Mm-hmm.

00:48:07.260 At Mar-a-Lago, at his house where he lives.

00:48:09.440 Yeah.

00:48:09.920 And I see how he is with people.

00:48:11.360 Even everything that's going on now.

00:48:13.520 I know in a long time.

00:48:14.300 I talk to my friends and they're like, he hates Mexicans.

00:48:16.960 I'm like, girl, you don't know nothing.

00:48:19.560 Just stay out of politics, girl, because you don't know nothing. 1.00

00:48:23.780 It's like, I don't understand how you can't look at everything and then make a decision.

00:48:30.260 You know?

00:48:31.160 Right, right, right.

00:48:32.160 People don't want to do that.

00:48:32.900 Look at both sides.

00:48:33.980 Then make a decision.

00:48:34.960 Right.

00:48:35.260 You know?

00:48:35.760 Do your research.

00:48:36.500 And now allow others to do so.

00:48:38.240 And so, you know, when I got indicted, and a lot of people, no one really read the indictment.

00:48:47.780 I didn't.

00:48:47.940 I was indicted because I called the fire department and asked them to do a building inspection for a building that we were trying to get open because the president of the country was coming here.

00:49:02.180 And when I texted the commissioner, I said, can you have somebody go do an inspection?

00:49:08.140 And if you can't, let me know and I'll manage their expectations.

00:49:11.400 They said, well, Turkey upgraded you when you flew.

00:49:16.540 I don't know who don't try to get an upgrade.

00:49:18.640 And they said, we're now saying that you committed bribery because you called the fire department and you pressured them to inspect the building, not to pass the inspection.

00:49:28.720 I was facing over 30 years in prison for them.

00:49:31.700 Over 30 years in prison.

00:49:32.940 He was on the campaign trail.

00:49:35.460 I never met Donald Trump.

00:49:36.900 Never met him.

00:49:38.160 He was on the campaign trail saying, look what they're doing to this guy.

00:49:42.280 You know?

00:49:42.720 He identified with what happened to his family.

00:49:45.500 Right.

00:49:45.720 He saw it as what happened to me.

00:49:47.480 And so he was on the campaign trail.

00:49:50.160 We never met, but he was saying, look what they're doing to that man in New York.

00:49:53.460 So what do you think was the reason that you were targeted like that?

00:49:57.060 We had an overflow of migrants and asylum seekers coming to the city.

00:50:03.000 Oh, the hotels, right?

00:50:04.140 Yeah, 237,000.

00:50:06.060 A lot.

00:50:06.520 Right.

00:50:07.740 And I went back and forth to Washington.

00:50:10.280 I met with the President Biden twice.

00:50:12.380 I went back and forth to Washington and saying, listen, this is not sustainable.

00:50:16.480 It costs $7.7 billion, would it be?

00:50:19.720 And each time I went, they didn't do anything about our border.

00:50:22.880 They didn't secure the border.

00:50:24.100 They were all coming to New York.

00:50:25.960 And after 10 trips to Washington, after playing with the President, they didn't want to listen.

00:50:31.220 It was devastating, the city.

00:50:33.820 And I said, listen, they told me, be a good Democrat, be quiet.

00:50:36.820 I said, listen, I'm not going to.

00:50:37.960 I was elected to help this city.

00:50:40.280 And when I started criticizing them, all of a sudden, you know, they stepped to me.

00:50:46.340 They played dirty.

00:50:47.300 Right.

00:50:47.800 Dirty?

00:50:50.200 Dirty.

00:50:51.420 You know? 0.98

00:50:52.100 But you need to talk about how they've been chasing you just about all of my life.

00:50:56.860 You know what I'm saying?

00:50:57.860 Right, right, right.

00:50:58.540 That was always.

00:50:59.300 From some time, the FBI has always been chasing you.

00:51:02.600 Yeah.

00:51:02.980 And me not being a politician, being on the outside and watching everything, you've been

00:51:08.160 making sure the city has been safe.

00:51:10.420 You have been making sure the city has been booming, like, entertainment-wise.

00:51:13.420 So it makes no sense for anyone to come after you for some tickets on a plane, for some international

00:51:18.720 stuff when you're already Mr. International with New York City.

00:51:21.440 Right, no, without a doubt.

00:51:22.000 So it was because you spoke your mind.

00:51:23.740 I'm only saying it because I'm not a politician.

00:51:26.080 It's some BS.

00:51:27.180 You poked your chest out and they got mad about it.

00:51:29.540 So maybe we all have that in common.

00:51:31.820 I used to be a Democrat.

00:51:33.260 I voted for Bernie Sanders in 2016.

00:51:35.380 And then when I saw what the Democratic Party did to rig it against him, I voted for Trump.

00:51:39.400 So it seems like you're no longer part of the Democrat Party.

00:51:42.600 No, I'm still a Democrat.

00:51:44.780 I'm running on the independent line for office.

00:51:48.460 I'm still a Democrat.

00:51:50.800 I believe that it should be what your principles are and what you should stand for.

00:51:57.240 Because a Democrat is not a monolithic party where everyone believes the same thing.

00:52:01.680 You know, 79% of New Yorkers agree with me that if you are undocumented and you commit 1.00

00:52:07.300 a violent crime after you save your time, you should be the board.

00:52:10.680 You got to go.

00:52:11.320 Right.

00:52:11.700 And many people don't believe that.

00:52:13.580 They don't believe that no matter what.

00:52:14.960 And, you know, what's interesting, those violent Venezuelan gang members, like I went 1.00

00:52:19.980 down to Ecuador, Colombia, and Mexico to talk to the people down there.

00:52:25.320 They said, these violent gangs are destroying us.

00:52:29.120 And many of them made their way up here through our borders.

00:52:32.960 And when we decided that, listen, you can't stay in this country if you are violating your

00:52:39.520 privilege of being here.

00:52:41.720 And those gangs are preying on women, they're forcing them into prostitution, they're taking

00:52:45.500 their papers and forcing them into prostitution, they're threatening their family members at 0.93

00:52:50.080 home, they are shooting innocent people.

00:52:53.760 And so there's a, in a Democratic Party, the far left of our party embraced the belief that

00:53:00.460 no matter what you do, you should still be able to remain there.

00:53:03.900 And I said, that's not how I roll.

00:53:05.240 Absolutely.

00:53:05.820 That's not how I roll.

00:53:06.440 I think our party's losing its mind.

00:53:07.500 There's a lot of, not all of them, of course.

00:53:09.200 Right, right, right.

00:53:09.920 It's when it's so absurd that they're allowing crime, they don't, they look the other way.

00:53:14.320 I think that's why, that pushed us more.

00:53:17.920 This way?

00:53:18.940 It's so absurd that they're allowing Madani.

00:53:21.820 Right, right, right, right, exactly.

00:53:24.600 He's not wise enough or old enough at all to.

00:53:27.880 I'd like to change subjects real quick.

00:53:29.840 Dad, I'm going to talk to you about the feminist movement, but Amber, I'm going to talk to you 0.93

00:53:34.040 about the slut walk. 0.97

00:53:35.200 Okay.

00:53:35.840 How do y'all feel about the feminist movement in New York City as far as women being empowered,

00:53:42.920 women finding great jobs, and women being figures in this city to be a staple? 1.00

00:53:47.880 Hmm.

00:53:49.200 So I no longer do the slut walk. 0.97

00:53:51.120 Yeah, I know. 0.93

00:53:51.640 I'm talking about that walk. 0.95

00:53:52.780 Okay, so the slut walk was very misconstrued. 1.00

00:53:56.380 They thought I was promoting promiscuity to young girls to be sluts. 1.00

00:54:00.920 That's not what the slut walk was at all. 1.00

00:54:04.280 We raised a lot of money to help women that were survivors of sexual assault and rape.

00:54:10.020 Um, we also got them counseling.

00:54:13.020 We donated to Trevor Project, which was about young gay kids that wanted to commit suicide 1.00

00:54:18.540 because their families didn't accept them. 0.96

00:54:20.840 So we did all the right things in slut walk. 0.97

00:54:23.740 The name slut walk just, I mean, people just didn't want to research it and they just assumed

00:54:29.400 what it was.

00:54:30.600 Um, so that's one of the reasons why I stopped doing it.

00:54:34.060 And also, um, I'm no longer a feminist because men and women are not equal. 0.88

00:54:42.660 We're just not equal.

00:54:44.180 We're never going to be equal in a lot of ways.

00:54:47.640 And I'm okay with that, being a woman.

00:54:50.320 Um, I feel like if there was no men on the planet, women would probably suffer in a lot 1.00

00:54:57.380 of ways.

00:54:58.300 We would suffer too if there was no women here. 1.00

00:55:00.480 I'm just letting y'all know right now.

00:55:02.660 I agree.

00:55:03.280 I agree.

00:55:04.160 And I feel like we need each other.

00:55:05.980 Yes.

00:55:06.320 Yes.

00:55:06.560 Um, and, um, you know, I, I think that, um, I personally believe in gender roles.

00:55:14.760 It's a personal opinion.

00:55:17.020 Um, but yeah, I'm no longer a feminist for that reason, which is why Sneaker was just 1.00

00:55:22.040 saying that we both lean more right now.

00:55:24.940 Um, because what we initially believed in on the left is no longer that it's more leaning

00:55:32.480 right.

00:55:32.880 Um, just common sense, logic, things of that nature.

00:55:36.760 Yeah.

00:55:37.220 Um, it just got a little too extreme for me.

00:55:39.980 Right.

00:55:40.740 And, and that's why I moved.

00:55:42.400 And that's interesting.

00:55:42.900 Because you, you, you, you voted, you said, you know, Bernie Sanders in the primary.

00:55:46.920 That's powerful.

00:55:48.120 Yeah.

00:55:48.380 And then switched and voted for Trump in 2016 and 2024.

00:55:52.180 Me too.

00:55:52.640 I voted, I voted for Bernie Sanders as well.

00:55:54.620 Yeah.

00:55:55.000 Yeah.

00:55:55.280 For sure.

00:55:55.660 And, and, and, and, and, and so similar to what they did with Bernie, they did with Biden.

00:56:00.720 Mm-hmm.

00:56:01.940 You know, they, they, you know, compelled him.

00:56:05.040 First of all, it's clear now that they knew that he was, you know, dealing with some cognitive

00:56:09.520 issues.

00:56:10.280 Right.

00:56:10.480 And, and the, the, the whole, the institution covered it up.

00:56:14.940 The media covered it up.

00:56:16.000 They don't want to acknowledge that.

00:56:17.120 And they covered it up.

00:56:18.620 You know, the whole institution covered it up.

00:56:21.180 And let me tell you something.

00:56:22.180 You know, people don't want, there's a book I tell everybody about.

00:56:24.620 They get upset when I talk about it.

00:56:26.080 Cash Patel's book, um, uh, uh, government gangsta.

00:56:30.860 Government gangsta.

00:56:31.880 I'm telling you, people, every American should read that book because there is a, you could,

00:56:37.560 they use the terminology of deep state, whatever term you want.

00:56:42.060 There's a permanent government that's connected.

00:56:45.180 The media is part of it.

00:56:46.420 Correct.

00:56:46.600 The prosecutors are part of it.

00:56:49.320 The government officials have been in the gang for 30, 40 years.

00:56:52.820 They all know each other.

00:56:54.000 And when they, let me tell you something, Amber, when they come at you, man.

00:56:58.140 I'm just waiting for my turn.

00:56:59.640 I feel like they hate me.

00:57:02.340 Let me, let me ask you a question.

00:57:04.580 I know.

00:57:05.500 You know, look, I mean, what are you going to do?

00:57:08.320 I got to live my, my, my true self.

00:57:11.620 Right.

00:57:12.120 Have you ever watched Scandal?

00:57:14.660 Yes.

00:57:15.000 Love Scandal.

00:57:15.780 Right.

00:57:16.020 Yeah, love Scandal.

00:57:16.980 You know, Paul, I'm surprised.

00:57:18.960 Wait, how, how accurate is that?

00:57:20.920 I asked all.

00:57:21.280 Very much.

00:57:22.020 It is, right?

00:57:22.560 Very much.

00:57:23.060 You know, you know who they say it's based on?

00:57:25.680 It's based on Steve Cohen, the owner of the net, the nets, they say.

00:57:29.560 Really?

00:57:30.000 Yeah, yeah, yeah, very, think about this for a moment.

00:57:33.460 Here in New York, there's a prosecutor's office that's called the Southern District.

00:57:38.960 Okay.

00:57:39.960 One of the most powerful prosecutor's office, and all of them, they, they are, they openly

00:57:45.940 say that we are solvent.

00:57:48.120 And, you know, solvent means you answer to no one.

00:57:51.980 Mm-hmm.

00:57:52.480 They don't feel the answer to the president.

00:57:54.660 They don't feel the answer to their voice in Washington.

00:57:57.480 They feel that they are a solvent entity.

00:57:59.640 And when I hear, I say, I say to Americans.

00:58:01.920 You better watch it, man.

00:58:02.920 Yeah, I say to him.

00:58:04.180 Go after you, man.

00:58:06.060 They go after you.

00:58:08.240 Andrew and Tristan Pate right now are getting prosecuted by the Southern District Court of

00:58:13.620 New York.

00:58:14.000 Yeah.

00:58:14.780 All the way from Florida.

00:58:17.020 They moved it to New York because of what he just said.

00:58:20.180 Yeah, no, no.

00:58:20.700 They think they're.

00:58:22.820 Sobbing.

00:58:23.620 Yeah, exactly.

00:58:23.860 There's no one sobbing in, in America.

00:58:26.660 You know, everyone, the president answers to some.

00:58:29.640 You know, he wants things done.

00:58:31.780 He has to go through the Congress and the Senate.

00:58:34.080 As the man, if I want something done, I have to go through the state and I have to go through

00:58:38.280 the city council.

00:58:39.380 No one is solvent.

00:58:40.280 America is based on a principle that no one is solvent.

00:58:43.480 So when you have an entity with that much power that states that we answer to no one,

00:58:48.840 that's not in the Constitution.

00:58:50.240 Where do you get that from?

00:58:52.060 You know?

00:58:52.820 Right.

00:58:53.220 You know, you, we all answer to someone.

00:58:56.140 And that's, that solvent mindset is what rolled on me.

00:58:59.640 They were planning, you know, they were planning to, I was at the marathon and I was going,

00:59:06.160 I was holding the tape for the runners that come across.

00:59:08.800 They were planning to go surround me and take my phones while all the cameras are on me

00:59:14.840 at the marathon.

00:59:16.780 That's insane.

00:59:17.620 Think about that.

00:59:19.340 That's insane.

00:59:20.080 Right, right, right.

00:59:21.780 But you still seem optimistic.

00:59:23.000 It seems like you still want to stay, you don't want to lose your position.

00:59:26.660 Yeah, yeah.

00:59:27.280 No.

00:59:27.840 Well, you know, I turn on, every day I turn on my GPS.

00:59:33.000 My God position is satellite.

00:59:35.400 I have let go and I let God.

00:59:37.400 You know, God.

00:59:37.940 I'm going to take the wheel.

00:59:38.700 Yes.

00:59:38.840 He also wants to be mayor.

00:59:41.060 Huh?

00:59:41.460 He wants to be mayor.

00:59:42.420 Yeah, but if God, I'm going to work.

00:59:44.340 I'm going to do what I'm supposed to do.

00:59:45.880 But if God wants me to be the mayor, I'm going to do my job and let him do his job.

00:59:51.140 And when you wake up with that belief, you no longer live in fear.

00:59:57.460 You're no longer worried about tomorrow.

01:00:02.020 You know, like I said, when you look at the journey, you know, there were many times where

01:00:07.180 I could have been defeated.

01:00:09.080 And I'm just, I know what I've done for the city that I love.

01:00:13.440 I know how good I've been for the city that I love.

01:00:16.520 And I'm not going to wake up every day and say, what if I'm no longer going to do this?

01:00:19.860 Because there's always going, God is always going to have something for me to do.

01:00:23.460 So I'm looking to be reelected because the city needs to continue what we accomplish.

01:00:28.080 We can finish what you started.

01:00:29.200 Right, right, right.

01:00:30.540 Can't say it better, Richie.

01:00:31.580 No one knows that better than you.

01:00:33.100 You are the owner of One Oak.

01:00:36.400 Hold on, man.

01:00:37.540 Hold on, man.

01:00:38.360 You know, you look at Richie's story.

01:00:40.200 You know, we all talk about our story.

01:00:42.000 This brother here.

01:00:43.020 That's similar.

01:00:44.620 That's real.

01:00:44.940 You know, this brother here, man.

01:00:48.140 Should I go to One Oak?

01:00:49.160 I got to go to the street.

01:00:49.960 I got to be into a lot to do what I've had to learn disability.

01:00:53.420 And look where you are now.

01:00:54.560 Your name is on the lips of every prominent person in this country.

01:01:00.620 You know?

01:01:01.460 Yeah.

01:01:02.000 And you're still doing what you do.

01:01:05.120 You know, that's what it's about, man.

01:01:08.400 Dad, I'm waiting for you to be a movie star.

01:01:10.600 I'm waiting for you to be the action hero.

01:01:12.880 You know what I'm saying?

01:01:13.740 Someone takes the married son. 0.84

01:01:15.680 He go ahead and run down on them.

01:01:17.220 You know what I'm saying?

01:01:18.040 That's the movie right there.

01:01:20.020 Yeah, you know what I'm saying?

01:01:21.100 But I got another question for you.

01:01:22.880 I know you're asking the question.

01:01:23.900 But I will say, what do you feel like New York is missing that you want in the city?

01:01:35.880 Outside 11?

01:01:37.200 Yeah.

01:01:37.960 I'm with you with the 11.

01:01:39.420 Because the 11 is.

01:01:41.000 You want to bring 11 in?

01:01:42.120 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:01:43.160 That's my favorite club in Miami.

01:01:45.520 Come on, now. 0.87

01:01:46.520 We need that here.

01:01:47.780 Yes, I know.

01:01:48.880 Yeah.

01:01:49.500 She's going to talk about that?

01:01:51.020 That's me.

01:01:51.940 Oh, wait.

01:01:52.520 I got Mokdani's going to talk about that.

01:01:54.380 I'm on the same page.

01:01:55.760 Mokdani.

01:01:57.840 Mokdani's not thinking that way.

01:02:01.640 That's hilarious.

01:02:03.440 I don't know if they know that club.

01:02:04.500 That's a good Miami club.

01:02:06.180 Come on.

01:02:06.520 That's how he's not kidding.

01:02:08.140 He's not kidding at all.

01:02:09.920 That's serious.

01:02:11.840 We need a 24-hour district.

01:02:14.300 You know, this is a city that never sleeps, so, you know, we shouldn't even be taking a nap.

01:02:19.520 Hello.

01:02:19.940 You know, people get up all the time.

01:02:22.640 And what I've learned from my policing days is that this city is broken into mornings, afternoons, and overnights.

01:02:30.380 Right.

01:02:31.120 And we need to feed all three of those entities.

01:02:35.740 Because, you know, like, you know, I think one of you said, like even in your club business, you know how many people you employ?

01:02:42.660 Yeah, big time.

01:02:43.580 Big time.

01:02:44.240 And those people who are trying to make their way is crucial.

01:02:48.500 And they're proud.

01:02:48.860 And they owe their taxes.

01:02:49.720 And they owe their proud.

01:02:50.500 They're proud hard.

01:02:51.260 Right.

01:02:51.980 Right.

01:02:52.400 Hard working.

01:02:54.020 And so, but I think outside of that, we need a 24-hour district.

01:02:59.940 And we just need to continue our trajectory.

01:03:02.980 The city that never sleeps.

01:03:04.080 Right.

01:03:04.280 What does a 24-hour district look like?

01:03:06.380 Is it markets?

01:03:07.320 Is it casinos?

01:03:08.340 Is it clubs?

01:03:09.440 Is it kooka lounges?

01:03:10.440 Well, they're going to bring casinos here.

01:03:11.860 If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.

01:03:12.620 Right.

01:03:12.920 I love that.

01:03:13.440 Oh, 100%.

01:03:14.160 Richie says, if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.

01:03:18.860 It's not about any other city or any other country or any other place in the world.

01:03:23.280 But that's stuck.

01:03:25.200 Right.

01:03:25.580 Right.

01:03:25.840 And I meet with mayors across the globe.

01:03:28.960 And they'll be in the room arguing who's number two, who's number three.

01:03:33.360 Then they'll look up at me and smile.

01:03:35.120 They say, we know who's number one.

01:03:36.320 Come on, man.

01:03:38.000 Come on, man.

01:03:39.040 I know that's right.

01:03:40.200 One of the things that the mayor did was the crypto.

01:03:43.060 We did a crypto event here.

01:03:45.820 And I think.

01:03:46.640 Yeah.

01:03:47.140 Yeah.

01:03:47.720 Are you in the crypto space?

01:03:49.380 I got some crypto.

01:03:50.840 Yeah.

01:03:51.280 Yeah.

01:03:51.640 When I first.

01:03:52.480 I wrote a lot.

01:03:53.220 Do you?

01:03:53.520 Yeah.

01:03:53.980 Please.

01:03:54.280 Please.

01:03:54.800 I got a lot.

01:03:55.840 Please.

01:03:56.300 Yeah.

01:03:56.780 This is the Tom right here.

01:03:58.500 Tom Eyre is going to tell us about the plan for the crypto as a crypto capital.

01:04:02.820 Yeah.

01:04:03.260 What do you hold the most?

01:04:03.960 Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana?

01:04:05.700 Bitcoin.

01:04:06.860 I took my first three paychecks in Bitcoin.

01:04:11.320 The city of New York paid you in Bitcoin?

01:04:12.620 Yeah.

01:04:13.320 No.

01:04:13.720 The way it is.

01:04:14.680 What?

01:04:14.980 Early on?

01:04:15.820 Yeah.

01:04:16.180 Yeah.

01:04:16.460 When I first got elected.

01:04:17.220 How good for you.

01:04:17.860 My first three paychecks.

01:04:19.020 Everybody laughed at me.

01:04:20.080 They all called me names.

01:04:21.420 You know what's wrong with you.

01:04:22.660 Now, who's laughing?

01:04:23.280 I'm going to talk to you.

01:04:23.960 It was probably like $15,000, $19,000 when you got paid at it.

01:04:27.160 That's right.

01:04:27.200 It's $100,000 now.

01:04:28.000 You get five extra money just like that.

01:04:29.620 I'm doing very well.

01:04:33.740 You got a rich people's laugh.

01:04:34.780 Yeah.

01:04:35.100 I got a rich people's laugh right there.

01:04:38.100 But we really want to lean into blockchain, Bitcoin, and particularly those who have family

01:04:47.020 members out of the country.

01:04:48.720 They could use Bitcoin, their digital assets to send money back home to their loved ones

01:04:54.640 and without paying those exorbitant fees from doing so.

01:04:58.800 And so I'm really focused on, I want my young people to learn in earlier grades about AI,

01:05:07.700 about Bitcoins, about, you know, blockchain, because this is an industry that's open, particularly

01:05:12.320 for young folks.

01:05:13.840 You're looking into the future.

01:05:14.920 Yes.

01:05:15.280 Without that, look at the ashes on that.

01:05:17.120 How did you start streaming?

01:05:31.620 I started streaming three years ago.

01:05:33.280 I was doing YouTube for 10 years before that, so I've been doing content for a long time.

01:05:38.460 I've always wanted to speak up and, you know, have my voice heard and make films, so I'm

01:05:44.000 a veteran at this game.

01:05:45.460 Love it.

01:05:45.880 Love it.

01:05:46.120 You're a native New Yorker?

01:05:47.680 I was born on 14th Street.

01:05:49.500 Love it.

01:05:49.800 Yeah, I've lived all over New York.

01:05:51.280 I lived in Harlem before I got a nice apartment here.

01:05:54.180 I live downtown, financial district now.

01:05:55.960 Okay.

01:05:56.500 Okay.

01:05:56.780 Yeah, I lived in Bushwick.

01:05:57.540 I lived in Queens and all over the city.

01:05:59.800 Love it.

01:06:00.360 Love it.

01:06:00.620 Love it.

01:06:00.820 Kind of like you.

01:06:01.900 Yeah.

01:06:02.480 Yeah.

01:06:02.840 Yeah.

01:06:03.240 Now, you never lived in New York?

01:06:04.940 I did.

01:06:05.400 I lived in the Bronx.

01:06:06.540 Okay.

01:06:07.000 I used to work at Sue's Rendezvous in Mount Vernon.

01:06:09.580 Another spot?

01:06:10.540 Yeah.

01:06:11.580 Yeah, that's where, that's how I initially got out of Philly.

01:06:14.660 Uh-huh.

01:06:15.480 And I was signed to Ford Models up here.

01:06:18.060 Love it.

01:06:18.520 Love it.

01:06:18.820 And I wasn't a famous model, so I still had to work.

01:06:22.740 Right.

01:06:23.140 You know?

01:06:23.900 So I worked at Sue's Rendezvous, and that would make extra money, and I would send money back

01:06:27.720 to my mom in Philly.

01:06:28.800 Love it.

01:06:29.240 Love it.

01:06:29.740 Love it.

01:06:30.120 Yeah.

01:06:30.260 Is your mother still with us?

01:06:31.680 She is.

01:06:32.400 Okay.

01:06:32.820 What is she doing now? 0.98

01:06:34.120 She don't have to work a day in her life. 1.00

01:06:36.380 Love it.

01:06:36.900 Love it.

01:06:37.040 She's good.

01:06:37.640 She gets an allowance for being my mom.

01:06:39.680 Mm.

01:06:40.240 That's it.

01:06:41.280 Proud is only for me.

01:06:43.200 Yeah.

01:06:43.580 Everything's paid for.

01:06:44.760 Mm-hmm.

01:06:45.000 She got everything she wants.

01:06:46.660 Where is she?

01:06:47.200 She in Philly?

01:06:47.600 She's in Jersey.

01:06:48.620 Jersey?

01:06:48.980 Where?

01:06:49.320 Where?

01:06:49.660 Uh, South Jersey.

01:06:50.900 Okay.

01:06:51.260 Some people say I live in Jersey.

01:06:52.620 Yeah.

01:06:53.020 Okay.

01:06:54.420 Yeah, she's in South Jersey.

01:06:55.840 She's doing very well.

01:06:56.960 She goes to church.

01:06:57.760 She got a bunch of friends at church.

01:07:00.360 She takes care of the kids on Sunday.

01:07:02.740 Mm.

01:07:02.920 You know, she loves the kids.

01:07:04.240 So, her life evolved.

01:07:06.140 She's doing so well.

01:07:07.720 She's so happy.

01:07:08.740 I love that.

01:07:09.300 That's amazing.

01:07:09.320 And I'm happy for her.

01:07:10.700 Yeah.

01:07:11.100 I'm happy for her.

01:07:11.520 Does she remarry? 1.00

01:07:12.480 She never, no.

01:07:14.120 She never remarried.

01:07:15.140 Mm.

01:07:15.160 Mm.

01:07:15.560 No.

01:07:16.200 Love that.

01:07:16.860 Love that.

01:07:17.680 Who are your parents?

01:07:18.520 They're here?

01:07:19.080 My parents, they live in Connecticut.

01:07:20.880 Okay.

01:07:21.300 Yeah, they live in Connecticut.

01:07:22.260 I mostly grew up in, most of my childhood was New Haven.

01:07:25.100 Okay.

01:07:25.420 Yeah, I live there.

01:07:26.680 We had better pizza in New Haven, I do want to know.

01:07:28.560 Oh, relax.

01:07:29.460 Relax.

01:07:29.920 Relax.

01:07:30.520 Oh, that's a huge statement, girl.

01:07:32.780 Relax.

01:07:33.180 Relax.

01:07:33.360 Relax.

01:07:34.640 Relax.

01:07:36.040 That's crazy.

01:07:37.000 I'll debate you all day about that.

01:07:39.020 I'm not letting that go down.

01:07:40.540 New Haven pizza.

01:07:41.160 No, New York.

01:07:42.020 I'm not letting that go down.

01:07:43.020 I'm not letting that go down.

01:07:44.740 Chicago next.

01:07:45.800 You just got canceled.

01:07:46.880 Yeah.

01:07:48.980 By the way, I'll take you to a place and I'll take you to a place and I'll take you to a

01:07:52.480 piece of Queens and Forest Hills, this little spot, best pizza you've ever had.

01:07:55.500 Come on, man.

01:07:56.280 I used to live there.

01:07:56.900 I've tried the pizza that is not compared to New Haven.

01:07:59.180 We got to go to New Haven.

01:08:00.480 I want to take pizza.

01:08:00.920 You said I got receipts.

01:08:02.080 I'm a real New Yorker.

01:08:05.660 I'll try to come on, man.

01:08:06.760 Give me one Richie, please.

01:08:09.120 New York's always crazy.

01:08:10.460 Yeah.

01:08:10.600 I think the past two years have been maybe specifically crazy.

01:08:14.500 What do you think was more wild for the city?

01:08:17.620 Was it the Diddy trial happening right now or Luigi Mangione?

01:08:22.280 I think...

01:08:22.800 I saw you talking about Luigi.

01:08:24.360 Yeah.

01:08:24.760 He had to be there.

01:08:26.160 That's interesting.

01:08:27.420 He had to be there.

01:08:28.180 Yeah.

01:08:28.580 When Luigi came back to the city, I met him on a helicopter because he sent a very strong

01:08:35.980 message.

01:08:36.660 You can't feed into the fear to assassinate someone in that magnitude.

01:08:40.860 That's why I was looking at the No King's Day flyer.

01:08:45.140 They had a crown with blood coming from it.

01:08:48.660 And we can't feed into this assassination culture.

01:08:52.800 Absolutely.

01:08:53.440 You know, that's what fed into what happened in Minnesota.

01:08:56.560 The guy who assassinated the elected officials in Minnesota, he had no king.

01:09:02.800 He had flyers in his car, no king.

01:09:05.360 You know?

01:09:06.060 And so one of the theories is that he was upset because those elected officials voted against

01:09:14.020 giving undocumented people health care.

01:09:16.920 And they were upset over that vote.

01:09:19.120 That's the theory that's out.

01:09:20.200 But one thing for sure, he had no king's flyers.

01:09:24.240 And so people don't realize that a lot of folks are being radicalized right now.

01:09:27.920 And when you look at these surveys of people saying assassination because you disagree with someone's policy is acceptable.

01:09:38.240 That's the mindset.

01:09:39.300 We're creating this.

01:09:40.640 Yeah.

01:09:40.900 You know, as you were saying, people don't want to even have a conversation when they disagree.

01:09:46.180 Right.

01:09:46.400 They think that you have to be canceled or killed on one or the other. 0.85

01:09:50.180 Right. 0.81

01:09:50.460 Right.

01:09:50.840 That's not fair.

01:09:51.300 It's not just talking to them.

01:09:52.660 Right.

01:09:53.080 Yeah.

01:09:53.400 Just having a conversation.

01:09:54.560 We have a real conversation.

01:09:56.600 And you know what I think it is, too?

01:09:57.760 I think a lot of people have never traveled the world.

01:10:00.860 Hello.

01:10:01.100 Once you travel the world, you realize how great America is.

01:10:04.880 Right.

01:10:04.980 You come back here.

01:10:06.020 You kiss the soil.

01:10:07.600 And you're like, oh, I got a corner store.

01:10:10.160 I can go get, I can get something two o'clock in the morning if I'm hungry.

01:10:14.840 Everyone that I've met in New York that's not from here, I tell them this one thing.

01:10:20.540 You have to leave New York to love New York.

01:10:22.420 Yeah.

01:10:22.940 Yeah.

01:10:23.360 Yeah.

01:10:23.880 It's true.

01:10:24.800 Sure.

01:10:25.020 Whenever the buildings start coming in on you, whenever you start getting really down,

01:10:29.600 whenever you start getting stressed, get out.

01:10:31.360 Right.

01:10:31.760 And then the minute you come back and you land in that city and you see those buildings.

01:10:36.880 That's right.

01:10:37.520 Yeah.

01:10:38.640 I forget how much you love it.

01:10:40.100 You are so happy to be home.

01:10:41.620 You know what I'm saying?

01:10:42.440 Right?

01:10:42.920 You know?

01:10:43.580 You can even go to the south of France and want to come back.

01:10:46.180 The problem is people stay through that pressure, through that stress, through that thing,

01:10:51.920 and then they just get beat.

01:10:54.720 Well said.

01:10:55.720 Well said.

01:10:56.240 And then they're like, I don't like New York.

01:10:57.560 I want to leave.

01:10:58.200 Yeah.

01:10:58.380 That's real.

01:10:58.840 Right?

01:10:59.100 That's so real.

01:10:59.700 The minute you start feeling like that, you leave, take a vacation, take a trip, go somewhere.

01:11:05.060 That's real.

01:11:05.460 Because that minute when you come back, there's nothing like that.

01:11:08.300 I'm back a lot.

01:11:09.420 I kind of feel like that when I go to Miami sometimes.

01:11:12.240 Like, I could go for a week and then I'm like, I kind of got to get back home.

01:11:16.000 Like, I got to leave.

01:11:16.360 Look at all the people during COVID that left, right?

01:11:19.020 I'm one of them right here.

01:11:19.840 Right?

01:11:20.160 Everybody left.

01:11:21.220 They went to Florida, Texas, whatever.

01:11:23.140 Put them to Texas.

01:11:23.780 And then, yeah.

01:11:25.060 And then they all come back.

01:11:26.520 That's why I love New York.

01:11:28.040 Yeah.

01:11:28.440 Yep.

01:11:28.600 Let's work on these taxes.

01:11:29.360 They know there's no other place.

01:11:30.000 That's a perfect, what Richie said is perfect.

01:11:32.180 Let's work on these taxes, man.

01:11:34.780 Everybody will come right back.

01:11:36.280 They're high in California.

01:11:38.080 They are.

01:11:38.700 I'm sure.

01:11:39.300 Trust me.

01:11:39.620 They will come right back and we work on these taxes.

01:11:41.600 Well, the candidates that are running for mayor, they want to increase taxes over and over

01:11:47.200 and over and over again.

01:11:49.080 That's the wrong attitude.

01:11:50.720 Because I'm finna move here, so, you know.

01:11:54.020 You got to.

01:11:54.880 Yeah.

01:11:55.140 Love it, love it, love it, love it, love it, love it.

01:11:57.440 Is that one of your objectives, to lower the very high taxes in New York City?

01:12:00.620 And, you know, no matter what we went through, from COVID to the migrant crisis, no matter

01:12:08.480 what we went through, we did not raise taxes and we did not lay off anyone.

01:12:14.300 And everyone wanted us to, you know, well, you got to raise taxes, you got to lay off

01:12:18.320 people.

01:12:18.600 And I said, no, everyone, we want to make sure the city remains an attractive city.

01:12:23.360 And you're judged in this city by the professionals are bond raiders.

01:12:29.640 They determined how well you're managing the city to decide if they're going to increase

01:12:33.760 or decrease your bond and send a message that if we are a good investment, they raised my

01:12:38.280 bond.

01:12:39.160 And they leaned into it and stated that, you know, this guy is managing the city through

01:12:43.800 all sorts of crises.

01:12:45.700 And because of that, we are a stable investment in the city.

01:12:49.780 And we're attracting a lot of businesses, a lot of jobs are coming here.

01:12:54.880 Is that me or you?

01:12:55.760 Yes.

01:12:57.740 Sneaker, I would like for you to ask him a question on COVID because I feel like he's

01:13:03.760 not being acknowledged on COVID a lot.

01:13:06.420 And I want to break it down a little bit more because I'm not political, like I said, but

01:13:12.400 Cuomo got 5 million off of COVID, right?

01:13:15.600 Like, my dad was over here, yeah, my dad was over here putting rubber bands on people's

01:13:20.980 ears with napkins, talking about this is a mask for y'all to have so y'all can be safe

01:13:25.900 to begin with.

01:13:27.320 And he was sleeping in Burrow Hall.

01:13:29.200 You know what I'm saying?

01:13:30.360 So my question for you is how do you feel COVID affected New York City?

01:13:36.760 But I know Sneaker got another question to ask.

01:13:39.640 That's a great question.

01:13:40.500 That's just to start off with it, you know what I'm saying?

01:13:42.900 Well, I think there's a number of things.

01:13:44.700 A lot of children stayed home and they still never came back to school.

01:13:48.120 So we have a whole generation that was impacted emotionally through COVID, you know, chronic

01:13:53.500 absence.

01:13:54.540 A lot of people went into dark places when they didn't go to work and never returned.

01:14:00.260 And, you know, no matter how much Andrews talks about it, 15,000 people died in nursing homes.

01:14:09.460 Come on, man.

01:14:09.940 People lost their grandparents, their parents, and that's real.

01:14:14.580 Awful laziness.

01:14:15.620 Right, right.

01:14:16.380 Awful laziness.

01:14:17.300 That's real.

01:14:17.980 And so it was a real struggle, as Jordan was saying.

01:14:21.720 I slept in my office throughout that whole time so I could get up early and go to the hospitals

01:14:26.020 and really encourage my nurses, my doctors, and handing out masks and NYCHA developments

01:14:32.720 and going, just leading from the front.

01:14:35.440 Generals don't send their troops into battle and say, how was the war?

01:14:38.700 They lead them into battle.

01:14:40.440 That is the type of leadership you need.

01:14:43.800 You got to lead people into battle so they can believe in, you know, believe in themselves.

01:14:48.840 And COVID devastated a lot of people.

01:14:51.020 It's the toughest place in the world.

01:14:52.380 I was here for the whole pandemic.

01:14:53.760 How were you?

01:14:54.180 It was the hardest place to be in during COVID.

01:14:56.220 Yeah, yeah, for sure.

01:14:56.800 People would say, people were mind-blowing that I stayed.

01:14:59.220 Yeah, yeah.

01:15:00.040 No, it was a tough period.

01:15:02.360 That's true.

01:15:03.080 Because when I was in L.A., we still had the canyons that were open.

01:15:06.700 Like, you could still kind of get fresh air outside.

01:15:10.360 It's very compact here in New York City.

01:15:13.140 Yeah, it is.

01:15:13.460 Yeah, it was different here.

01:15:14.960 We were ground zero.

01:15:16.080 Yeah.

01:15:16.460 You know, we...

01:15:17.460 Epicenter.

01:15:17.880 There were morgues where you had bodies lined out outside.

01:15:21.820 You know, people were losing loved ones.

01:15:25.380 Never to see them again.

01:15:27.740 You did?

01:15:28.600 You lost your dad through COVID?

01:15:29.860 Wow.

01:15:30.620 My dad, yeah.

01:15:31.980 It's a longer story than that.

01:15:33.360 Yeah.

01:15:33.480 He had lymphoma, found out right before COVID.

01:15:39.740 Cured it fully.

01:15:41.760 Fully, fully cured it.

01:15:43.220 Got COVID in the past.

01:15:44.420 Wow.

01:15:45.100 Wow.

01:15:45.300 Like, that's something that strikes me the wrong way.

01:15:48.260 Because it's like, you lost your father.

01:15:50.820 And other people were able to make millions off of this whole disease that we're dealing with.

01:15:54.500 Right.

01:15:54.740 And that bothers me as a human being, as a New Yorker, as someone who's just around.

01:16:00.320 Yeah, no, that's real.

01:16:01.300 So, I'm sorry you over here dealing with that, man.

01:16:03.980 Yeah, right.

01:16:04.600 Like, that was a whole situation that you had to go through.

01:16:07.860 Yeah.

01:16:08.020 Like, when you hear COVID, you think your father's death.

01:16:10.460 Right, right, right.

01:16:11.020 I don't want to think about my father's death.

01:16:12.900 You know what I'm saying?

01:16:13.480 Right, right.

01:16:14.120 So, like, for you to have to go through that during that time, everyone's like, oh, I survived COVID.

01:16:19.540 I did this.

01:16:20.100 I did that.

01:16:20.580 It's like, man, you don't even understand what COVID did to me.

01:16:23.940 You know what I'm saying?

01:16:24.580 COVID did a lot to me.

01:16:25.360 COVID did a lot to him.

01:16:26.720 And he not saying it.

01:16:27.640 He did a lot to him.

01:16:28.260 He not saying it.

01:16:29.200 And other people got $5 million off of COVID, which I'm bothered about.

01:16:35.280 So, how did he get the money from us?

01:16:37.100 He wrote a book.

01:16:38.820 Wrote a book.

01:16:40.940 This is your hype man right now.

01:16:42.900 Come on, man.

01:16:43.940 Hey, I'm here.

01:16:45.360 I'm here.

01:16:46.020 Listen, wrote a book.

01:16:47.600 I can write a book.

01:16:48.500 I can write a book.

01:16:50.880 He loves you.

01:16:52.580 Undoubtedly.

01:16:53.800 So, what's next for you?

01:16:56.740 What's next for you, Amber?

01:16:58.220 What's next career-wise?

01:16:59.920 What are you doing?

01:17:00.780 I got a lot of cool stuff coming out.

01:17:02.740 Okay.

01:17:03.180 But I'm glad that we did this.

01:17:04.840 Yes.

01:17:05.320 We got an opportunity to get to know you as a person.

01:17:08.900 Yes.

01:17:09.300 And I'm really proud of you for everything that you overcome.

01:17:14.240 Mutual admiration.

01:17:15.880 Yeah.

01:17:16.140 I'm very happy about that.

01:17:18.700 100%.

01:17:19.060 Thank you, brother, for taking our time, man.

01:17:21.500 I really appreciate this.

01:17:22.100 It's one of the coolest interviews you've ever done.

01:17:23.460 Without a doubt.

01:17:24.660 Eric Adams, I wish all the success to you and your family.

01:17:27.480 Thanks for what you've done so far and the effort you put into the city.

01:17:29.920 Thank you.

01:17:30.540 God is good.

01:17:31.200 Thank you.

SNEAKO - June 15, 2025

SNEAKO's Full Interview With The Mayor Of NYC Eric Adams

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Transcript