FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanaugh issued an apology to a crowd at the Christian Cultural Center last week after state Attorney General Letitia James was booed by firefighters during a promotion ceremony at the Brooklyn church Thursday.
"We have decades of training and discipline that none of us want to see tarnished by the unprofessional behavior of a few," Kavanaugh said Sunday.
As James walked to the podium at the church Thursday, she was booed by multiple firefighters, some of whom chanted "Trump."
"Oh, come on. We're in a house of God," James said to the crowd as they heckled her.
"Simmer down. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for getting it out of your system," James said.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the department said the FDNY will be investigating the incident.
“We're looking into those who clearly broke department regulations. It has nothing to do with politics. It's about professionalism at an official event held in a house of worship,” the spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, Regina Wilson, the president of the FDNY's Vulcan Society, a fraternal organization for Black firefighters in the city, said that she was not surprised that this incident occurred.
"I thought the display of disrespect to a community church that is well-known to everyone was disrespectful, and they desecrated that house," Wilson told anchor Dean Meminger Sunday night on Spectrum News NY1. "I felt horrified being a member of this organization to see what happened. But I was not surprised."
Wilson said that FDNY firefighters have "desecrated that church before" when she said they tailgated outside after a separate promotional ceremony.
"The lack of leadership and the lack of respect that they show this community is egregious and is very much how some of the members treat the East New York community anyway," Wilson said.
Wilson said the firefighters who booed "brought their political views into this."
When asked if she accepts Kavanaugh's apology, Wilson said she did not know "if that apology would ever be good for any person of color on this job."
A New York judge imposed $364 million in penalties in a civil fraud trial against former President Donald Trump last month, accusing him of a scheme to dupe banks and others with financial statements that inflated his wealth.
The ruling was the culmination of a yearslong effort from James, who sued Trump in 2022 over what she said was years of deceptive practices as he built the multinational collection of skyscrapers, golf courses and other properties that catapulted him to wealth, fame and the White House.