New York City

Eric Adams, Mayor of Fun, exempts fun jobs from COVID-19 vaccine mandate

Eric Adams lifted the vaccine mandate for athletes and performers, because it’s Fun to see them win – and good for the economy too.

Eric Adams on March 24 announcing that entertainers will be exempt from the vaccine mandate.

Eric Adams on March 24 announcing that entertainers will be exempt from the vaccine mandate. Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

New York City needs a morale boost (and an economic boost), and Kyrie Irving’s home game success with the Brooklyn Nets is more likely to provide that than a private employer vaccine mandate. That’s the argument New York City Mayor Eric Adams made at his press conference Thursday morning at Citi Field in Queens, as Adams lifted the mandate on New York based professional athletes and performing artists. And if employees working in other industries who are still covered by the mandate think they’re being treated differently, they’re right. “We’re talking about a small number of people that’s having a major impact on our economy,” Adams said. 

What’s the major difference? It’s not just about making money for the city – it’s about having fun. In his first three months in office, Adams has made it clear that dining, entertainment and tourism are of central importance to the city.

There’s a real economic argument behind that. Nightlife is a $35.1 billion dollar industry in the city, Adams said Thursday, and the industry was devastated by the coronavirus. The city lost 300,000 nightlife jobs at the peak of the pandemic, Deputy Mayor for Economic and Workforce Development Maria Torres-Springer said, and the sector is still down about 80,000 jobs from pre-pandemic levels. 

But New York City’s entertainment and nightlife offerings are also important to Adams’ mayoralty, as he himself samples what the city has to offer at every opportunity. Adams is the mayor who made a second home at downtown Manhattan club Zero Bond during the election, and who is racking up appearances at designer fashion shows. Sure, other mayors have been known to catch a game or attend a couple Broadway shows, but Adams seems to relish sitting courtside at the Knicks and taking in a jazz set. And even all that is too boring for him. 

But the city’s economy goes far beyond professional sports or clubs, and Adams’ executive order openly privileges athletes and other performing artists who have chosen not to get vaccinated over other workers. Labor unions in particular saw an opportunity with the mayor’s announcement, calling on Adams to lift the mandate for everyone. Adams refused on Thursday, but said that City Hall would keep looking at what regulations they could “peel back to bring back a level of normality to our city.”

Adams tried to spin that fairness argument his own way, saying this wasn’t an issue of treating some of the wealthiest New Yorkers differently than everyone else, but rather one of treating wealthy New Yorkers differently than athletes and entertainers coming in from out of town. A rule instituted by former Mayor Bill de Blasio exempted athletes, performing artists and their support staff who were only in town briefly for games or performances from the otherwise strict vaccine requirements. That meant unvaccinated players from other teams could take the court at the Barclays Center while unvaccinated Brooklyn Nets players such as Kyrie Irving, could not. “We created an unfair disadvantage to New York-based performers,” Adams said. “I’m correcting that unfair disadvantage, and I’m doing it at the appropriate time when our numbers are low. And it’s the right thing to do.”

“The appropriate time,” happens to correspond with the beginning of the Major League Baseball season, and while the policy applies to all performing artists and professional athletes, the focus was clearly on baseball Thursday. Adams staged the announcements where the Mets play, and executives from the Mets and Yankees were given time to speak and praise the mayor. Representatives from the Nets were nowhere to be found, even though Irving has been the most high profile entertainer barred from playing home games for his refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Irving has never given much explanation as to why he has declined the vaccines that are proven to reduce the likelihood and severity of COVID-19 cases, but he’s been steadfast in his refusal. Multiple local baseball players are also thought to be unvaccinated, including the Yankees’ Aaron Judge and the Mets’ Jacob deGrom, though team executives would not reveal how many players or specific names.

Adams claimed Thursday he was not “lobbied” on the issue, even though lobbying filings show that – among others – former New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson is being paid by a subsidiary of the Nets to lobby the mayor’s office on the issue. But Adams seemed to just be taking issue with the word, admitting that he spoke with representatives of both teams. Mets owner Steve Cohen spent more than almost anyone to help elect Adams, giving $1.5 million to a super PAC that supported Adams in the primary. Cohen also gave $500,000 at the time to a PAC supporting Andrew Yang. 

But it’s hard to imagine that Adams needed much pushing on doing what he could to help the city’s baseball teams – even if it meant exempting players and supporting staff from vaccine mandates. New York City is one of, if not the only, municipality to have a vaccine mandate for all private employers. And while Adams maintained all of de Blasio’s regulations when he came into office, he has been slowly peeling them away in the hopes of revving the city’s economy back to its full strength. 

This latest move, however, earned Adams a rare rebuke from New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who is not known for prioritizing fun. “I have serious concerns about the process, rationale and inequity in today’s decision to exempt professional athletes and performers,” she said in part of a longer emailed statement. “This exemption sends the wrong message that higher-paid workers and celebrities are being valued as more important than our devoted civil servants, which I reject. This is a step away from following sensible public health-driven policies that prioritize equity.”

Like Kyrie Irving, Mayor Adams is unlikely to be cowed. And if anybody is concerned, the Adams administration may encourage them to go watch a local sports team – and hope they win. Part of the official justification for lifting the mandate is that winning makes New Yorkers feel good. “This competitive disadvantage has negatively impacted, and continues to negatively impact, New York City teams' success,” the executive order reads, “which is important to the City's economic recovery and the morale of City residents and visitors.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.