Fox News host Harris Faulkner had some choice words for “cowardly” New York City Mayor Eric Adams regarding his city’s spiraling crime rate after he ran on a ‘tough on crime’ platform.
Faulkner’s remarks come after Adams earlier this week that the media was biased against him, arguing that although he is a black man and the Mayor of NYC, “my story is being interpreted by people that don’t look like me.”
Adams went on to claim that “white media” saw him differently.
“Diversify your newsrooms so I can look out and see people that look like me and say we are going to write stories based on the prisms that we have,” Adams said. “That’s not what we’re getting and that’s why I’m covered the way I’m covered. And I’m not comfortable with it.”
During a subsequent segment on the Fox News program “Outnumbered,” the panel debated Adams’ comments, but it didn’t take long for Faulkner to share her pointed and blunt assessment.
“We need to break down the barrier and say we have to report the facts as they are. If that means criticism, it does not matter where you were on the political spectrum are what your background or characteristic chart. That is fair game,” co-host Shannon Bream said.
“I don’t know what he is talking about. The reason he got hired has to do with a completely different other color: blue,” Faulkner said, make a police reference to the ‘thin blue line.’
“He has not been in office that long, maybe we will see him do something different,” Faulkner continued, adding that she’s reached out to the mayor for interviews on several occasions.
“How black, by the way, do you have to be? Do not make me pull out the receipts of how many times I personally have reached out to this mayor. My show was the first place he ever landed on this network,” she added.
“It is not about what we look like. For the mayor to say that is really shortsighted because the ink is also one color. When they print those newspapers, they don’t care about the color of your skin,” she noted.
“What they care about is have you brought down the crime statistics that Kayleigh has talked about? So I’m just asking on behalf of all of those who might be offended by what you’ve said because even when I show up, no matter what you think may come out of my mouth, I’m still reporter whether you can see the color of my skin or not,” Faulkner continued.
“It is offensive but you know what it is mostly? It’s cowardly. That’s not what you expect from a 22-year veteran of the NYPD. How disappointing. How cowardly of him not to take questions. I’m going to stave off access from the press,” Faulkner went on, noting also that Adams’ aversion to the press closely followed President Joe Biden’s visit to New York.
“You heard the mayor speak beautifully at Jason Rivera’s funeral in the eulogy. And then about a week later, the president shows up and suddenly I’m not taking questions and the media is racist. Or not black enough. Whatever he’s saying. He is dropping the race card. He’s pointing the fingers at newsrooms and you’re not enough. You know what? You are not enough. Sit down and take some questions,” she concluded.