NYC Mayor Eric Adams apologizes for referring to white NYPD officers as 'crackers' in a 2019 video

• A 2019 video of now-New York City Mayor Eric Adams using the word "cracker" resurfaced.
• "Every day in the police department, I kicked those crackers' ass, man," Adams said in the video.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams apologized Friday for calling white New York Police Department officers "crackers" in a video from 2019, before his tenure as mayor, WABC reported.

"Every day in the police department, I kicked those crackers' ass, man," Adams, who is a former NYPD captain, said a private event in December 2019. "I was unbelievable."

Adams said Friday that his remarks came in response to someone else who used the term (which the NPR show "Code Switch" did a fascinating in-depth investigation of) in a question.

"Clearly, it's a comment that should not be used," Adams said on Friday. "I apologize; not only to those who heard it but to New Yorkers because they should expect more from me."

He added that a portion of his time in the NYPD was spent dealing with racism.

"My fight, you know, my fight in the police department was fighting racism throughout my entire journey and I was serious about fighting against that," he said.

The President of the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York, Patrick J. Lynch, released a statement that said, "We have spent far too many hours together in hospital emergency rooms these past few weeks, and we've worked together for decades before that. A few seconds of video will not define our relationship."

Adam's office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.