Eric Adams is mocked and fact-checked on X for calling NYC the ‘Port-Au-Prince of America’ amid Haiti turmoil: ‘No one has ever, anywhere, called it this’
Mayor Eric Adams is roundly mocked and fact-checked on X after describing New York City as “America’s Port-Au-Prince.”
The mayor made the comment in an attempt to show solidarity with Haitians living in the city as the Caribbean country is in turmoil after crime boss Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier took control and called for a “bloody uprising” to overthrow the prime minister of Haiti, Ariel Henry. , who announced his resignation on Monday.
New York City has the largest concentration of Haitians in the United States, as well as one of the oldest established Haitian communities in the country, with an estimated population of 156,000.
‘We call New York City the Port-au-Prince of America. “We feel the pain our Haitian neighbors are feeling as the situation becomes more dire,” the mayor wrote.
“We feel the pain that our Haitian neighbors are feeling as the situation becomes more dire. To the people of Haiti and our own Haitian community here in New York City, know that we stand with you today and always.”
Mayor Eric Adams is being mocked on
The Mayor was fact-checked by X users who claimed to have never heard of such a comparison
Adams was quickly mocked by users and was even fact-checked by X, stating that the city had never been referred to by such a term
But despite all the good things the mayor probably meant, the tweet was quickly ridiculed and given a “fact-check” annotation.
“Readers added context they thought people might want to know: No one is calling New York City the Port-Au-Prince of America,” the message below the mayor’s tweet read.
The community note was followed by links to searches that returned no search results for the term.
The sentiment was echoed by X users who responded to the mayor’s tweet.
“I’ve lived here all my life and I’ve never heard anyone say that,” HowlingMutant wrote.
“I’ve never heard anyone, anywhere, call NYC the Port-au-Prince of America,” Clifton Duncan added.
In his eight years as Brooklyn Borough President, Adams’ Haitian culture celebrated Borough Hall’s Haitian Flag Day celebration and created the Little Haiti neighborhood
Former police officer Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Cherizier (pictured) warned of a ‘genocide’ unless Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry resigns. He resigned on Monday
Haiti has been rocked by a wave of violence in recent days that has left dead bodies on the streets and almost led to civil war.
A protester burns tires during a demonstration following the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday
“Who ever said that?” asked Covfefe Anon.
“I think you misheard people when they called it the Port-a-potty of America,” said White Girl Problems.
“Oh yeah, I can’t go a day without hearing that NYC is the Port Au Prince of the USA, or that Cincinnati is the Istanbul of the Midwest,” another joked.
“Eric, can you show us one example – in audio, video, or text – of someone calling New York “the Port-Au-Prince of America”? Before today,” another asked.
User Kelly K did a Google search to see if the phrase had ever been used.
“Many answers say no one calls NYC ‘the Port-au-Prince of America.’ A Google search for that term gave me more than twenty results, but they all referred to Eric Adams. When I searched for the phrase without Adams’ name, Google literally gave me ZERO results,” they wrote.
Despite the ridicule, Adams is a supporter of the Haitian community.
During his eight years as Brooklyn Borough President, Adams’ Haitian culture celebrated Haitian Flag Day at Borough Hall.
In the spring of 2018, he stood with Haitian leaders in the city to officially designate a Little Haiti business district in Brooklyn.
Haiti’s capital was calm on Wednesday, two days after the prime minister said he would resign, but the US and UN began pulling out their staff in a sign of fears peace could not last.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry said on Monday he would leave office once a transitional council takes over, following escalating violence by powerful gangs that has sent thousands fleeing their homes.
Police officers patrol as Haiti remains under a state of emergency due to the violence, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, pictured Saturday
Haitians cross the border between Quanamiente in Haiti and Dajabon in the Dominican Republic on Friday
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who met with regional leaders and representatives of the Haitian government and opposition in Jamaica earlier this week, told reporters on Wednesday that he expects the transition council to meet in the coming days.
Caribbean leaders have detailed which sectors, political parties and alliances will make up the nine-member council, but have not yet said who will be appointed to it.
However, Haiti’s most powerful gang leader, Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, who had threatened to overthrow Henry, “fired” the transitional council, the Miami Herald reported.
A day earlier, several dozen protested the transition plan, burning tires in downtown Port-au-Prince, but the city was largely calm.
Henry traveled to Kenya last month to broker a deal to secure Nairobi’s leadership of a long-delayed security mission to combat the gangs, which the UN says control most of the capital.
Violence escalated during his absence and he was left stranded in Puerto Rico when he resigned.
In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis, an anti-immigration hardliner, said law enforcement would send more than 250 additional officers and soldiers and more than a dozen air and maritime vessels to the South Coast “to protect our state.”
Haiti’s capital was quiet on Wednesday, two days after Prime Minister Ariel Henry said he would resign
Haiti has been plunged into chaos after crime boss Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Cherizier took control and called for a ‘bloody uprising’
In Port-au-Prince, Haitians went about their business Wednesday, with residents buying produce from street vendors and collecting water in containers. There were few signs of visible gang activity and no new attacks on key infrastructure or government buildings were reported.
However, MSC said it had suspended all shipping calls at Haiti’s main cargo port terminal, which it said remained “not fully operational” after containers were looted. Shipments will be diverted to Caucedo in the Dominican Republic, the company said.
Many details about the security force, such as how large it will be, who will contribute troops, its financing and how it will operate on the ground, remain unclear.
Countries have been reluctant to intervene in Haiti, with Henry’s government seen as corrupt by many Haitians, and after abuses from previous international interventions, including a sex abuse scandal and a cholera epidemic.
In Canada, like Haiti, a former French colony, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised his country would remain “very, very active” without making any concrete commitments.
“The international community has been intervening in Haiti for 30 years, and we are still in this impossible situation,” Trudeau said. “We need to see Haiti’s political class come together and figure out a way to move forward.”
Long impoverished and politically unstable, Haiti has become increasingly lawless since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, with the country’s armed police struggling to maintain security and protests against unelected Henry increasing.