New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, claimed on Tuesday that “New York has a brand,” but that Kansas does not.
“We have a brand. New York has a brand,” Adams said, claiming, “Kansas doesn’t have a brand.” He said that New York’s “brand means diversity. That brand means we care. That brand means that we are compassionate.”
Mayor Eric Adams Briefs Media on Trip to Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic
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The mayor’s remarks were met with backlash by some on social media.
Kansas attorney general Derek Schmidt, a Republican who is currently running for governor, tweeted, “Mayor who? Kansas isn’t New York and we sure as heck don’t want to be. I’ll stay focused here in God’s Country on making life more affordable and keeping communities safe, neither of which can be said about New York.”
Former Federal Communications Commission chair Ajit Pai tweeted, “Part of the Kansas brand is being nice and charitable toward people from other states who guffaw at how backward or inferior they think Kansas is—even when, most likely, none of them have actually spent meaningful time in the Sunflower State.”
Radio host Buck Sexton tweeted, “I saw two shirtless homeless men throwing trash cans at each other last week at 10am in Times Square, and had a maniac threaten a family member with a stick this past weekend- while she was pushing a stroller. So yes, NYC has a brand.”
“I lived in Kansas for a number of years. ‘Brand’ is overrated. Safe streets, good neighborhoods, and politicians more concerned with substance than brand are what make Kansas special,” tweeted Jason Whitlock, host of BlazeTV’s “Fearless with Jason Whitlock.”
“Kansas has KS wheat, Jayhawk basketball, KS beef, and the Wizard of Oz. What’s New York Mayor Adams’ brand? Violence, murder, homelessness, and high taxes? I’ll take Kansas any day,” GOP Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas tweeted.
“I’m choosing Kansas over New York City 100 times out of 100. See, I’ve never stepped over human feces in Kansas the way I have in NYC,” Blaze Media’s Keith Malinak tweeted. “Wait….Is human fecal matter on the sidewalks of your city your brand, @ericadamsfornyc?”
While many Americans have been disturbed by the “Drag Queen Story Hour” phenomenon that involves drag queens reading stories to children, Mayor Adams has previously expressed support for the practice of holding events with drag queens at schools and libraries.
“Drag storytellers, and the libraries and schools that support them, are advancing a love of diversity, personal expression, and literacy that is core to what our city embraces,” a tweet posted earlier this year on the @NYCMayor Twitter account read. “At a time when our LGBTQ+ communities are under increased attack across this country, we must use our education system to educate. The goal is not only for our children to be academically smart, but also emotionally intelligent,” another tweet stated.