Fox News host Jeanine Pirro called her Black colleague an “Oreo” Tuesday during a discussion about New York Mayor Eric Adams bragging recently about his “chocolate” administration.
On The Five, Pirro mentioned Adams’ appearance last Wednesday at a community event at a Brooklyn public school, where Adams claimed that one reason he is a target of criticism is the ethnicities of his deputy mayors.
“Stand up, they need to see you,” Adams said to each of the five women of color. “Have you ever seen this much chocolate leading the city of New York? And then go down the line. Look who’s here. This is representative of the city. That’s why people are hating on me.”
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It’s unclear who the “people” were that Adams was referring to and whether his comment relates to how federal investigators have been looking into whether his 2021 campaign received illegal donations with the help of the Turkish government.
Adams also likened his actions as mayor to a gospel account of Jesus turning the tables over in the Temple of Jerusalem: “First woman police commissioner of color. First Spanish-speaking police commissioner. First Spanish-speaking correction commissioner. Go through the line of what we're doing in two years."
On Fox, Pirro first turned to Harold Ford Jr., a Democrat and former Tennessee congressman.
“When I was reading this line—‘Have you ever seen this much chocolate leading the city of New York?’—I mean, I didn’t know whether that was offensive. Is that offensive to the people he was referencing?” she asked.
Ford replied that Adams was just “trying to say there’s a vast amount of African American leadership.”
Pirro, describing Adams as “articulate,” still wondered about it. “Why did he call them ‘chocolate’?”
“He might not have had enough time. He might have been trying to condense it,” Ford said, adding that he himself would have gone another route.
After co-hosts Greg Gutfeld and Dana Perino chimed in that Adams’ audience should not have been offended, Gutfeld told Ford, “You’re like my Cadbury Egg.”
“He’s my Snickers,” Perino said, after which Pirro felt compelled to join in.
“Oreo! That’s it,” she blurted out, eliciting laughter from Gutfeld, Pirro, and Jesse Watters, who covered his face with both hands.
Ford seemed surprised by the comment.
“An Oreo? Did you call me an Oreo?” he said.
“Yeah. Yeah,” Pirro affirmed.
“Black on the outside, white on the inside,” Ford said, explaining the meaning of the term when used derogatorily. “I like Snickers better.” The term “oreo” has been consistently described as offensive.
At the end of the segment, after Watters suggested that Ford would be a better mayor than the incumbent, Pirro seemed to try to smooth things over. “Harold, we love you. I love you. You OK?”
“I’m fine,” he replied. “Mr. Mayor, thank you.”
