NYC Mayor Adams addresses backlash over smoking cigars with antisemitic influencer Sneako
After drawing sharp backlash for hosting Sneako, an online influencer known for his antisemitic views, at Gracie Mansion over the weekend, Mayor Adams said Monday he could have done a better job vetting the internet personality and promised he “didn’t know his history” before meeting with him over cigars.
“Maybe I’m just too optimistic, that I believe there’s something good in everyone, and we should try to find that — yes, maybe I should have reached out to the team late at night and said, ‘Hey, can you vet this person?’ But this is a challenge for me because everyone comes to me,” Adams told reporters after an unrelated press conference in Brooklyn when asked about his Saturday night sitdown with the controversial influencer whose real name is Nicolas Kenn De Balinthazy.
The mayor, who has made fighting antisemitism and support for Israel key focuses of his reelection effort, said he was sitting on the porch of Gracie Mansion smoking a cigar Saturday and then “other people came and joined me, and they brought people with them, and they started engaging in the conversation.”
“And he was one of the people that engaged in that conversation,” he said of Sneako. “I didn’t know his history. I don’t support anything that is criticizing any group in this city.”
https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/06/16/nyc-mayor-adams-addresses-backlash-over-smoking-cigars-with-antisemitic-influencer-sneako/