The bizarre reason New York mayoral candidate Eric Adams refers to himself in the 3rd person

published 16 June 2021

Like Rickey Henderson or Reggie Jackson before him, New York mayoral candidate Eric Adams has picked up the habit of referring to himself in the third person, and he revealed how that happened on Wednesday.

Adams was asked why he sometimes calls himself "Eric Adams" during an interview with New York radio station 710 WOR. Amid a spurt of laughter, the Brooklyn borough president explained that what may seem like a sign of arrogance actually stems from a combination of self-criticism and his journaling technique.

"I am my own worst critic," he said. "I criticize myself every day. I have these journals I write in at the end of the night of what could I have done better. I've done this for about 24 years, I had 26 journals where I looked at ... where did I drop the ball, what was my knucklehed moment. So I guess when you look third person, [it's] easier to critique the third person instead of critiquing yourself."

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.