Entrepreneur and television personality Daymond John was honored by the mayor of New York City on Saturday, Oct. 21, at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. John, best known as one of the founders of clothing company FUBU, was shooting segments for the fourth annual Black Entrepreneurs Day, which will air globally via live stream on Nov. 1, and was surprised by the New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who had the following words to say.
“I think some people underestimate the power of hip-hop,” Mayor Adams said. “I say all the time, we just look at the music. But hip hop right now, the leader of the minority party in Congress, Hakeem Jeffries, grew up on hip-hop. Letitia James, [attorney general] grew up on hip-hop, Jumaane Williams [pub;ic advocate]New York City Public Advocate) he grew up on hip-hop. The DA in the Bronx [Darcel Clark] grew up on hip-hop. The DA of Brooklyn [Eric Gonzalez] grew up on hip-hop. The DA of Manhattan [Alvin Bragg] grew up on hip-hop. The mayor of the city of New York grew up on hip-hop. The four most important cities in America are run by African American mayors who grew up on hip-hop. Hip-hop is running the country, right now, right? When you look around the country [you see] hip-hop is everywhere. You see we got all of this chocolate and we are doing our thing right now.”
Mayor Adams then discussed what he plans to do as mayor of the largest city in the country.
“We’re going to put billions of dollars in [minority and women-owned business enterprises], Black and Brown entrepreneurship. Listen, this is a Matthew 21 and 12 moment for people who go to church. Jesus went into the temple and they were doing wrong in the temple. He turned the table over. I became mayor not to sit at the table, but to turn the table over,” he said.
Mayor Adams concluded by referring to John as “the real shark on ‘Shark Tank.’ ”
Black Entrepreneurs Day, curated by Daymond John, which features Anthony Anderson, Cedric the Entertainer, Angela Yee, Cari Champion, and many more, will stream on Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. on numerous social media platforms, including YouTube and Facebook.
