NYC Mayor Eric Adams addresses backlash over smoking cigars with antisemitic influencer Sneako

Chris Sommerfeldt, Sheetal Banchariya, New York Daily News on Jun 16, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

NEW YORK — After drawing sharp backlash for hosting Sneako, an online influencer known for his antisemitic views, at Gracie Mansion over the weekend, Mayor Eric 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.”

The 26-year-old streamer and influencer has a history of antisemitic and anti-Israel statements and is close with white supremacist Nick Fuentes and rapper Kanye West, who has hailed Hitler as part of a string of antisemitic posts online.

In a livestreamed rant last year, Sneako declared, “Down with the Jews,” and he has praised the Nazis’ “drip,” internet slang for fashionable style. Just hours before his meeting with Adams at Gracie, he posted on X that “Israel is not compatible with Western civilization.”

Sneako’s meeting with Adams at Gracie also included the mayor’s adult son, Jordan Coleman, pro-Trump model Amber Rose and nightlife impresario Richie Akiva. The sitdown lasted for at least an hour and 17 minutes, per a video of the confab the internet personality posted online, and Adams treated his guests to cigars he told them he had been gifted.

The mayor’s late-night cigar session drew outrage, including from elected officials.

“The mayor is smoking cigars at Gracie Mansion with Sneako — yet another antisemite, who once declared: ‘Down with the Jews.’ Who’s next on the guest list — David Duke?” New York Rep. Ritchie Torres, who represents a section of the Bronx, wrote on X, referring to the KKK leader.

In his Monday press conference, Adams said he’s confident Jewish New Yorkers know he has their back. He also said “you didn’t hear anything antisemitic” come up in his conversation with Sneako.

“The Jewish residents of the city know where I am,” he said. “They know where my voice is, and they know that there has not been a stronger voice in politics on fighting against antisemitism. No one has done what I’ve done as the mayor of this city.”