Political off-roading can be a risk, but Mayor Eric Adams took that chance when, unprompted, he went into a five-minute tirade over criticism he’s received in his first year in office.

“You know what? Hold on for a minute. Sometimes you get your best story when I go off message,” he said, just as he was leaving an unrelated press conference on Wednesday.

Adams failed to provide any names, but sounded very much like he was focusing his disapproval on former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s press secretary, Bill Neidhardt.

What You Need To Know

  • Mayor Eric Adams went on a five-minute tirade over recent criticism he's received

  • The unprompted diatribe was targeted at former staffers of former Mayor Bill de Blasio, particularly former press secretary Bill Neidhardt

  • De Blasio responded by saying he called Adams in the afternoon and has offered his help. He also said that, “no one speaks for me, but me"

  • The rant comes as Adams is entering his second year in office

Neidhardt most recently gave his opinion of Adams’ first year in office to Politico, saying that the mayor has a rare brand of Democratic politics that doesn’t exactly fit in with his party.

Adams clearly took offense to the comments.

“And this guy, I’m going to attack Eric for everything and you guys act like this guy is credible. Who cares what he thinks?” Adams said.

Neidhardt says that though he might have been a former staffer for the previous administration, his views are reflective of voters.

“The fact is that every New Yorker has the right to speak out when Mayor Adams slashes school budgets, or raises rents or echoes right-wing talking points. That’s what I spoke out about,” Neidhardt said.

Adams often says he prides himself on being able to take criticism from everyday New Yorkers. But that didn’t seem to be the case on Wednesday.

“Instead of the mayor whining about it, he should tackle the crises, he should listen to the people,” Neidhardt added.

A year into office, the mayor said he inherited a broken system that he now has to clean up — including Rikers Island, public housing, crime and the pandemic.

“They left the house in total disarray and then they come and say, look at the mess you created, Eric. No, it’s a mess we inherited,” he said.

Adams compared his leadership to being the pilot of a plane and that New Yorkers are the passengers, noting that if the plane went down, we would all suffer.

Neidhardt pushed back against the analogy.

“We might be the passengers on this plane, but this plane is a democracy, Mr. Mayor, and the passengers get a voice,” he said.

De Blasio in response tweeted out that he spoke to Adams in the afternoon and has offered him help in many ways.

He also tweeted: “I sympathize with his frustration with certain critics but want to emphasize this: no one speaks for me but me.”

De Blasio went on to thank his former staffers for their work.