FLASHBACK: NYC Mayor Eric Adams used racial slur against white people in newly unearthed clip

"Every day in the police department, I kicked those crackers’ a**, man," Adams said. "Man, I was unbelievable in the Police Department with 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement."

According to the New York Daily News, the private event was held by the Harlem Business Alliance on December 13, 2019.

"I became a sergeant, a lieutenant, and a captain, you know the story," Adams also said. "Some people oversell it trying to reinvent me, but the reality is: what I was then is who I am now."

Adams continued to discuss his upcoming campaign for the city’s mayorship, joking that he would rather "grow a beard, smoke some weed and leave this stuff alone. You hear me?"

"The people who say, 'Where's our real Black leaders?' They're going to say, 'Who's Eric? Why does Eric think he should be mayor?' Well, Negro, you run. You run. Go raise the 7 million dollars," he said. "Let me tell you something, man. They are lining up — 'Eric can’t be mayor.' In the corners of the city, they are lining up. They know me. They know what I'm about, and they know what I'm going to do as the mayor of the City of New York. Listen, we’re not going to play this game."

Speaking with the Daily News, Thomas Lopez-Pierre, a local activist and founder of the Black Lives Matter Real Estate Forum, LLC. who shot the video, said his comments weren’t unheard of.

"This is how Black people talk. To us, it was family. We were having a conversation with family,” Lopez-Pierre told the Daily News over the phone.

Despite saying that he was encouraged by Adams points in 2019, Lopez-Pierre said he has recently become disappointed with Adams’ plans for fighting crime, which focuses on strengthening the NYPD. Instead, Lopez-Pierre said that Adams should be focused on creating job and economic opportunities for black New Yorkers.

"More cops are going to get killed because Black men do not have opportunity," he said. "I think it’s a great plan for white people to feel falsely safe...Before the end of the year, more than one police officer is going to be killed."

This video of Adams was also reportedly posted to Instagram recently, and was removed from he platform due to hate speech.

"Instagram took down the video within 20 minutes calling it hate speech," wrote Derek Utley, chairman of X Strategies LLC.

On Friday afternoon, Adams held a press conference to apologize for his remarks, claiming the question he was responding to had used the slur. The question cannot be heard on the clip.

“But clearly, it’s a comment that should not be used and I apologize not only to those who heard it but to New Yorkers because they should expect more from me and that was inappropriate,” he added.

Police were quick to forgive Adams, however. The head of the Police Benevolent Association stated that “Whenever a controversial video of a police officer surfaces online, we ask for fairness instead of a rush to outrage.”

“We will apply the same standard here,” PBA President Pat Lynch said. “We have spoken with Mayor Adams about this video. A few seconds of video will not define our relationship.”