NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- Mayor Eric Adams called on President Joe Biden to publicly apologize to Asian Americans for remarks former President Donald Trump made about COVID-19.
During a press conference at the Pearl River Mart in SoHo on Tuesday, Adams said Biden “should stand up and say on behalf of the American people, ‘We apologize to the Chinese community.’”
“We had a president of the United States that called COVID the ‘Chinese disease,’” Adams said of Trump.
“He used hatred terminology,” the mayor continued. “This is a big moment for our country—that we will never allow the Oval Office to be used to attack people in our country.”
Adams said he planned to send a letter to Biden formally asking him to apologize on behalf of Trump, who he said helped “turn people against the Chinese community during COVID.”
“The best thing we can do right now is to use the highest office in our country to apologize for what Donald Trump did to this community,” Adams said.
The White House hasn't responded.
During his time in office, Trump used terms like “China virus” to refer to COVID-19, leading to widespread condemnation, including from Biden, who said during his presidential campaign that Trump was engaging in “casual racism and regular xenophobia.”
New York City continues to see a spike in anti-Asian hate crimes during the pandemic. According to the NYPD, there was a 357% increase in anti-Asian hate crimes through November 2021 compared to the same period in 2020.
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