Curt Menefee confronted Eric Adams (D-NY) over the New York City mayor’s “all these negroes” comment during a recent speech.
Menefee, who is widely known for hosting Fox NFL Sunday during the football season, also co-hosts Good Day New York every weekday. And Wednesday morning, Adams joined the Fox 5 New York morning show in the wake of recent comments he made during a Black History Month event at Gracie Mansion.
Calls for Adams to be removed from office have grown as the mayor faces accusations of corruption charges from federal prosecutors. Those calls prompted Adams to call out his critics in the Black community.
“All these negroes who were asking me to step down, God forgive them,” Adams said at the Black History Month event. “Are you stupid? I’m running my race right now.”
Wednesday morning, Menefee questioned the mayor for implying Black people should be obligated to support him.
Adams: “No, no, not at all. I’m asking for all New Yorkers to support me.”
Menefee: “So, who are you specifically talking to when you say negroes?”
Adams: “Well, who has asked me to step down? If you look at that whole speech, the speech talked about the continuation of lighting your flame and continuing to light and shine. And that’s what we’ve done in this administration with our team. S,o those who have called for me to allow my flame to prematurely be extinguished. That’s who I’m talking about.”
Menefee did not let up on the New York City Mayor, continuing to press him on his controversial comments. “So you’re saying all New Yorkers are negroes?”
Adams: “I thought I was very clear in my definition of what I said,” Adams insisted. “All New Yorkers — we got 8.3 million New Yorkers, 8.3 million people didn’t call for me to step down. I get just the opposite when I’m in the streets.”
Menefee continued to press the mayor before explaining his line of questioning.
“So anybody who’s black who calls for you to step down, they need help from God,” Menefee said. “I’m focusing on this because your use of the word negro has come up repeatedly over the last couple of weeks, and I think some people actually have an issue with that term. So explain who you’re talking to when you use that term specifically.”
Adams: “I didn’t say you need help from God. I said pray for them. Wasn’t that what I said?”
Menefee: “You said, quote, ‘God forgive them.’”
Adams: “Exactly. Let’s pray for them…I have not been convicted of a crime. I’ve moved the city forward. I’ve done the job that New York has asked me to do. And so when you have those that are trying to usurp the power of the voting rights of the people, that is not democracy. And God forgive them.”
It was a very different side of Menefee than the jovial personality football fans are used to seeing alongside Howie Long, Jimmy Johnson, Michael Strahan and Terry Bradshaw on Sundays during the NFL season. But it was a journalistic side of Menefee that New Yorkers should be encouraged to see.