People Have Thoughts on NYC Mayor Eric Adams Entering a Press Conference to “Run This Town”

In a series of new "off-topic" press conferences, Mayor Adams' choice for an entrance song has inspired passionate reactions on social media.

October 4, 2023

Leigh Vogel / Getty Images for Concordia Summit

New York City Mayor Eric Adams kicked off his new “off-topic” series of press conferences on Tuesday (Oct. 3) and it has people talking.

Mayor Adams had announced a new press policy in which he will only answer off-topic questions from reporters once a week on Tuesdays. The new policy is the administration’s method of “experimenting with a better way to talk” with reporters, according to Fabian Levy, Deputy Mayor for Communications.

For the inaugural “off-topic” conference, Mayor Adams took the experiment even further by walking into the press conference to Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Rihanna’s 2009 hit “Run This Town.” Some folks raised eyebrows about the informality of the gesture, others opted to blatantly criticize him on social media:

The mayor may have found the inspiration for his entrance song the night prior when he was on site at the Brooklyn Public Library for a gala in honor of Jay-Z and his mother, Gloria Carter. Other high-profile guests included Tom Brady, Meek Mill, Quavo, Travis Scott, Kim Kardashian, to name a few.

Mayor Adams leaves on Wednesday for a 4-day trip to Mexico, Ecuador, and Colombia to meet with local leaders about the influx of asylum seekers in light of New York City’s migrant crisis. “We’re going to tell [potential migrants] that … coming to New York doesn’t mean a stay in a 5-star hotel,” he said on Tuesday. “I’ve always been the person that… I need to go on the ground… to give people the honest truth.”