NYC mayoral candidate Eric Adams said his favorite concert was the one where Curtis Mayfield got paralyzed on stage

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NYC mayoral candidate Eric Adams said his favorite concert was the one where Curtis Mayfield got paralyzed on stage
New York City Democratic Mayoral Candidate Eric Adams. TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images
  • NYC mayoral frontrunner Eric Adams said his favorite concert was one where tragedy struck.
  • Adams told Vanity Fair that his all-time favorite was when Curtis Mayfield got paralyzed.
  • He said "it was an amazing concert before that happened. Just so unfortunate."
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Eric Adams, the Brooklyn Borough President and a frontrunner in the Democratic primary for New York City Mayor, told Vanity Fair that his favorite concert of all time a 1990 show in Brooklyn where Curtis Mayfield was paralyzed in a horrific accident.

"Curtis Mayfield at the Wingate Concert Series," Adams said when asked what his favorite concert was. "At that concert there was a rainstorm and the lights fell on Curtis Mayfield and they actually paralyzed him at that concert. He died a few years ago, but it was an amazing concert before that happened. Just so unfortunate."

A Los Angeles Times report about the concert noted that Mayfield had not yet begun performing when the rig fell on him. It's not clear what part of the performance Adams enjoyed before the accident took place.

Mayfield was not the only one injured in the accident. At least six others were hurt, including a 12-year-old girl.

He was unable to play the guitar after being paralyzed from the neck down, but he continued to compose and sing until his death in 1999.

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Adams, 60, is known in New York politics for his unique personality and quirks.

Earlier in the campaign, a public service announcement from his days in the New York State Senate reemerged and quickly went viral.

In the PSA, Adams gives instructions on how to find contraband such as guns and crack pipes in a child's personal belongings, telling parents "you write the Constitution - there are no First Amendment rights inside your household."

Adams was likely referring to the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable search and seizures.

Another unusual subplot of the Adams mayoral campaign has been a scandal surrounding his official residence.

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The candidate even went so far as to convene reporters in his Bedford-Stuyvesant brownstone following a report from Politico that raised questions about where he lived.

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