Can you say messy, messy?! New York City Mayor Eric Adams suspended his bid for re-election just days after his admitted former flame, Jasmine Ray, resigned from her position at City Hall. Now, not only is Ray releasing a juicy tell-all book this weekend, what she’s alleging might make you clutch your pearls. Here’s the low down on what we know.
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Their Relationship
On Tuesday (Sept. 30), Adams’ team confirmed he had been romantically involved with Ray a decade ago. A spokesperson for Adams asserted that even though he dated Ray a long while ago, they did not have any romantic engagements since they both started working at City Hall.
But Ray alleges the opposite.
Jasmine Ray’s Hiring
According to the New York Daily News, Adams confirmed their relationship was before he took office days after Ray resigned from her Director of Sports, Wellness and Recreation position, created by Adams himself in November 2022. Ray was informally the city’s “sports czar,” pocketing a hefty $161,400 base salary.
At the time of her hiring, Adams said Ray brought “a wealth of experience to our team” and how “proud” he was “to have [her] join our administration.”
The outlet also reported Ray had Adams’ permission to work as a “consultant” for 10 hours a week for a Brooklyn daycare center, that relies on city funding, while also working her city job. According to reports, that same daycare was awarded a $4.7 million city contract for pre-K services.
Ray’s Juicy Tell-All
Ray announced she would self-publish a juicy tell-all book, titled “Political Humanity,” which will describe their alleged “hidden relationship.”
The cover of the book features the back of a bald, suit-wearing Black man’s head held by a woman’s hands, perfectly manicured with black nail polish.
“Their hidden relationship — marked by intimacy, sacrifice, and betrayal — mirrors the larger struggles of politics itself: the tension between personal humanity and public expectation,” the book’s website alleges.
The book’s description— which can be yours for the low price $9.99— promises to divulge it all, “From the shadows of City Hall to the silence of closed-door meetings, Jasmine Ray reveals her untold role in the life of New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams.”
The book’s website added, “this story is bigger than two people,” though. Ray, a self-proclaimed “entrepreneur, author, public servant, and former recording artist,” details how she “wrestles with the contradictions of leadership in an unforgiving political climate. And in Love & Accountability, she turns inward, asking what it means to forgive, to let go, and to rise again.”
The Backlash
Adams, 65, announced that he’s ending his bid for reelection in New York City’s mayoral race on Sept. 28. But that didn’t stop the fallout for him appointing such a high-paying and newly created job with someone he had a past relationship with.
His actions were condemned as “nepotistic,” as he is “supposed to disclose familial relationships and relationships that create a potential conflict of interest so that the Conflict of Interest Board can offer advice,” John Kaehny, a government watchdog, said.
A spokesperson for Mayor Adams, Kayla Mamelak, told the Daily News that the mayor didn’t need to consult the Conflict of Interest Board because Ray was an ex-girlfriend, not a current one.
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