New York mayoral candidate Andrew Yang’s views on mentally ill spark backlash on eve of election
- New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang tells radio show mentally ill people were affecting city’s tourism
- Yang echoed remarks he made on mental illness and homelessness at last week’s mayoral debate
In the final hours of the New York City mayoral campaign, candidate Andrew Yang doubled down on his comments on the mentally ill and homeless.
Phoning into a radio show with billionaire John Catsimatidis on Monday, Yang complained that mentally ill people affect the city’s tourism.
Yang was responding to Catsimatidis's statement that too many mentally ill people live on the streets instead of in hospitals. He agreed with Catsimatidis that money is better spent on building facilities to treat people.
“We need to get them the care that they need, but that will also supercharge our economic recovery because we all see these mentally ill people on our streets and subways, and you know who else sees them? Tourists. And then they don't come back, and they tell their friends, 'Don't go to New York City’." Yang said.
“We're never going to get our jobs back and our economy back if we don't get the mentally ill people who are on our streets in a better environment,” Yang added.
The comments Yang made on Monday were similar to those he made at the NYC mayoral debate last Wednesday, for which he received backlash on social media.