Mayor Eric Adams is thoroughly mocked and fact-checked on X after he described New York City as ‘The Port-Au-Prince of America’.
The mayor made the comment in an attempt to show solidarity with Haitians living in the city, with the Caribbean country in turmoil after crime boss Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Cherizier took control and called for a ‘bloody uprising’ to oust Haiti’s prime minister, 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 156,000 living there.
‘We call New York City the Port-Au-Prince of America. We feel the pain that our Haitian neighbors feel when the situation becomes dire,” the mayor wrote.
‘We feel the pain felt by our Haitian neighbors as the situation becomes 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 mocked on X after calling New York City ‘The Port-Au-Prince of America’ in a tweet aimed at showing support for Haitians in the US
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 how the city had never been referred to by such a term
But for all the good the mayor probably intended, the tweet was quickly ridiculed and given a “fact check” tag.
“Readers added context they thought people might want to know: Nobody calls New York City the Port-Au-Prince of America,” read the announcement under the mayor’s tweet.
The community note was followed up with links to searches that did not return search results for the term.
The sentiment was echoed by X users who responded to the mayor’s tweet.
“I’ve lived here my whole life and I’ve never heard anyone say that,” HowlingMutant wrote.
“I have never heard anyone, anywhere, at any time call NYC the Port-au-Prince of America,” Clifton Duncan added.
During his eight years as Brooklyn Borough President, Adams celebrated Haitian culture, held Haitian Flag Day celebrations at Borough Hall and created the Little Haiti neighborhood
Former police officer Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Cherizier (pictured) warned of a ‘genocide’ unless Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry resigned. He resigned on Monday
Haiti has been rocked by a wave of violence in the past few days that has left dead bodies in the streets and tipped it close 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 the hell ever said that?” asked Covfefe Anon.
“I think you’ve misunderstood people calling it the Port-a-potty of America,” White Girl Problems said.
“Oh yeah, can’t go a day without hearing NYC is the Port Au Prince of the USA or that Cincinnati is the Istanbul of the Midwest,” joked another.
‘Eric, could you show us a single example – in audio or video or text – of someone referring to NYC as ‘Port-Au-Prince of America?’ Before today,’ asked another.
User Kelly K performed a Google search to see if the phrase had ever been used.
‘Lots of responses saying no one calls NYC the ‘Port-Au-Prince of America’. A Google search on that term gave me more than 20 results – but every single one of them referred to Eric Adams. When I searched for the phrase without Adam’s name, Google gave me literally ZERO results,’ they wrote.
Despite the taunt, Adams has been a supporter of the Haitian community.
During his eight years as Brooklyn Borough President, Adams’ celebrated Haitian culture held Haiti’s Flag Day celebration 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 quiet on Wednesday, two days after the prime minister said he would step down, but the United States and United Nations began withdrawing staff in a sign they fear the peace will not last.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry said on Monday he would step down from his post when a transitional council takes over, after escalating violence by powerful gangs has forced thousands to flee 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 Quanamienthe in Haiti and Dajabon in the Dominican Republic, pictured on Friday
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who met with regional leaders and representatives from Haiti’s government and opposition in Jamaica earlier this week, told reporters Wednesday that he expects the transition council to meet in the next few days.
Caribbean leaders have detailed the sectors, political parties and alliances that 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, ‘ousted’ the Transitional Council, Miami Herald reported.
A day earlier, several dozen protested the transition plan and burned tires in downtown Port-au-Prince, but the city was mostly calm.
Henry traveled to Kenya last month to seal a deal to secure Nairobi’s leadership of a long-delayed security mission to combat the gangs the UN believes control most of the capital.
The violence escalated in his absence and he remained stranded in Puerto Rico when he resigned.
In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis, an anti-immigration hardliner, said state law enforcement would deploy over 250 additional officers and troopers and more than a dozen air and sea vessels to the southern coast “to protect our state.”
Haiti’s capital was quiet on Wednesday, two days after the prime minister, Ariel Henry, said he would step down
Haiti 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 on Wednesday, with residents buying produce from street vendors and collecting water in containers. There was little evidence of visible gang activity, and no new attacks on key infrastructure or government offices were reported.
But MSC said it had suspended all ship 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, it said.
Many details of the security force, such as how large it will be, who will contribute troops, its funding and how it will operate on the ground, remain unclear.
Countries have been wary of intervening in Haiti, where Henry’s government is viewed by many Haitians as corrupt, and after abuses from previous international interventions, including a sex abuse scandal and cholera epidemic.
In Canada, like Haiti a former French colony, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised his country would remain ‘very, very active’ without specifying commitments.
“The international community has intervened for 30 years in Haiti and we still find ourselves in this impossible situation,” Trudeau said. ‘We need to see Haiti’s political class come together and figure out a way to move forward.’
Haiti has long been poor and politically unstable, but has become increasingly lawless since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021, with the country’s outmatched police struggling to maintain security and with growing protests against the unelected Henry.