Anybody who performs a Google search of Olayemi Olurin will uncover three issues about her: She is a former public defender for the Authorized Help Society, she has left-leaning politics, and — primarily based on a two-hour video on her YouTube channel — she believes Eric Adams is the “worst mayor in America.”
That’s why Olurin mentioned she was shocked to be taught final week that Adams could be becoming a member of her as a fellow visitor on “The Breakfast Membership,” a nationally syndicated present boasting 4 million listeners that one media professional has known as “appointment listening for folks of colour.”
“They mentioned to me, ‘Oh, you are gonna be on with the mayor,’ and I’m like, ‘What?’” Olurin mentioned in an interview with Gothamist, breaking into laughter. “I used to be like, ‘Oh, there is no approach. They’re punking me.’”
However it wasn’t solely critical, it was additionally greater than she might have requested for. What adopted was a 50-minute verbal brawl that grew to become a viral political sensation.
Reactions to the interview had been like a Rorschach take a look at of town’s political divisions. Complicated reported that the mayor had been “grilled” by an activist, whereas Hell Gate praised the interview for its “refreshingly adversarial tenor.” The New York Publish described Olurin as a “woke protection lawyer.”
However seemingly everybody with an curiosity in metropolis politics watched, no matter their background.
A clip of 1 trade that Olurin posted on X garnered greater than 3 million views.
The interview’s prosecutorial tone was set early on when Olurin contended that Adams’ rhetoric on crime, which she described as fearmongering, had made New Yorkers really feel unsafe. Olurin’s supply led host Charlamagne tha God to comment, “Loosen up your tie, Mayor Adams. Gonna be a protracted day.”
The mayor retaliated by difficult Olurin on her information. He accused her of spreading “misinformation” after she cited information tales and a report by a federal monitor about illegal stop-and-frisks of Black and Hispanic folks.
In a single declare, Olurin mentioned the mayor “stood with” Gov. Kathy Hochul when she introduced that she could be including almost 800 Nationwide Guard members to help with bag checks within the subway system. Adams did not attend the press convention however expressed help for her choice.
Olurin was applauded on social media for delivering what many described as a “grasp class” in holding an elected official accountable.
Noah Schactman, the previous editor-in-chief of Rolling Stone, known as the looks “crucial interview of Eric Adams in a protracted, very long time.”
However NYPD members and the mayor’s supporters attacked Olurin.
“Dismissing the fact New Yorkers face as ‘fearmongering’ isn’t solely ridiculous however anticipated from the wokesters residing in a bubble, with the wool pulled over their eyes,” mentioned Metropolis Councilmember Robert Holden of Queens, who pointed to Olurin’s dialogue with Adams about public security in New York Metropolis.
NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell, who’s been on a media tour of his personal in latest weeks and has not too long ago come beneath fireplace for calling out the fallacious choose in a social media submit, derided Olurin as an activist lawyer who “epitomizes all the things that true NYers are in opposition to.”
In a separate submit, he challenged her to come back meet him on the funeral of Jonathan Diller, the police officer killed whereas conducting a automobile cease in Queens final week.
The largest query amongst political specialists was why Adams, who has sought to restrict questions from reporters at press conferences, agreed to the interview within the first place.
Fabien Levy, the deputy mayor for communications, didn’t reply to questions concerning the mayor’s interview.
However the day earlier than the interview aired, Levy promoted the dialog in response to a social media submit by a reporter who mentioned Adams was “sitting down together with his primary hater.”
“Mayor Adams is dedicated to listening to totally different voices and main our complete metropolis, even those that disagree with him,” Levy wrote on X.
Neither host Charlamagne nor a producer on the present responded to a request for an interview.
“The mayor’s off form,” mentioned Christina Greer, a political science professor, at the moment serving as a fellow on the Metropolis Faculty of New York. “He hasn’t debated anybody in a very long time.”
Greer mentioned the interview compelled the mayor to confront a paradox about his messaging on public security, which applauds town as a secure haven whereas additionally endorsing a heavy police presence in public areas just like the subway system.
“You possibly can’t have it each methods,” Greer mentioned. “Is that this the most secure metropolis in America? Is that this a harmful hellscape that wants extra police? Which one is it?”
Others famous that when the mayor appeared to query Olurin’s numbers — through which she mentioned 97% of stops made by an anti-crime unit revived beneath Adams had been of Black and Latino folks — he risked dismissing a long-standing concern about racist policing techniques.
“These are stats that do actually matter to voters, notably the mayor’s base,” mentioned Basil Smikle, a former Democratic strategist.
Throughout the interview, Adams talked about his oft-repeated historical past as a police officer who protested racism throughout the NYPD, a response that Smikle likened to a “resumé level.”
He mentioned Adams ought to by no means have gone on the present with Olurin.
“You’re the mayor of New York Metropolis,” Smikle mentioned. “You don’t have to be on with anyone else.”
Olurin posted a YouTube video on Sunday that sought to offer viewers with a truth examine on a few of her assaults in opposition to the mayor throughout their interview.
Regardless of all the things, Olurin and Adams exchanged telephone numbers. Olurin, who’s of Bahamian and Nigerian descent, mentioned the mayor later texted her to ask her what her title Olayemi means.
The lawyer, who has taken on shoppers unable to afford authorized illustration, replied, “Affluence befits me.”
Olurin mentioned she wasn’t anticipating a rematch with the mayor.
“I’d be inclined to wager each greenback in my account proper now,” she mentioned. “We’re by no means going to see the mayor do a kind of once more.”
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