In his posting Herbert added: \u201cyou hit the nail right on the head or should i say racist!!\u201d<\/p>\n
Herbert later shared a video<\/a> saying he was happy about his prior post because it helped him identify people on his social media page who he now believes to be \u201cracist.\u201d<\/p>\n While he referred to the incident in Utah as an \u201cunfortunate shooting of a human being,\u201d he also said Kirk had \u201chelped his own demise.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you go out there and you talk about people and you talk about \u2013 and you know, become a racist \u2013 and you try to disguise that like you\u2019re doing something for humanity, that\u2019s a problem,\u201d Herbert said in the posting. \u201cAnd unfortunately karma has come to collect.\u201d<\/p>\n Herbert, 61, who appears to have since removed the posts, didn\u2019t respond to a phone call and text messages seeking comment.<\/p>\n He was on leave from his $105,000 position as a community liaison in the Adams administration when he was terminated, according to City Hall spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus, who noted that Herbert was not a direct report to Adams.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe unequivocally denounce these remarks, which in no way reflect the values of the Adams administration,\u201d she said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAs Mayor Adams said yesterday<\/a>, political violence has no place in our city or in our nation, and it\u2019s time we all turn down the temperature and stand united against hate,\u201d she added. \u201cCharlie Kirk was a passionate young man, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family during this trying time.\u201d<\/p>\n Mamelak Altus didn\u2019t respond when asked why Herbert was on leave, but he recently advocated<\/a> for Adams\u2019 reelection in an online editorial.\u00a0<\/p>\n Herbert was hired by the Adams administration in February 2022 as a community coordinator with a salary of just under $84,000, public records show. More recently he was serving as citywide liaison to the public housing community, according to an interview<\/a> posted online this week, with a salary of nearly $105,000 per year.<\/p>\n In that interview, Herbert advocated for Adams\u2019 re-election while referring to himself as a \u201cfraternal brother to the mayor\u201d and a \u201cbig supporter.\u201d<\/p>\n Herbert was among the participants<\/a> in a secret Freemason ceremony at Gracie Mansion in the fall of 2023 that inducted Adams, then NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, and other government and elected officials into the fraternal group, according to a story in Gothamist.<\/p>\n A year prior, Hell Gate reported<\/a> that Herbert was driving a Jeep fitted with emergency lights and sirens and with what appeared to be an illegal license plate cover.<\/p>\n Previously, he was a government staffer and community advocate in Brooklyn who ran for elected office a number of times, including for Public Advocate in 2017 and 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n Herbert has also operated nonprofits that spoke out against youth and gun violence and, in 2015, made waves for steering a wooden coffin<\/a> onto the grounds of City Hall in protest of what he contended was then-Mayor Bill de Blasio\u2019s mishandling of violent crime in the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kirk, a 31-year-old married father of two, is a revered figure in conservative and Christian circles who was close to President Donald Trump and other top Republican officials, but also widely condemned for disparaging remarks<\/a> about Black, immigrant and gay people.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the wake of his killing on the campus of Utah Valley University by what appeared to be a lone gunman, the Trump administration has taken steps to celebrate him on a national scale, including by ordering<\/a> flags lowered to half staff, while the State Department cautioned<\/a> \u201cforeigners\u201d in the United States against making incendiary remarks following Kirk\u2019s death that glorify violence or hatred.\u00a0<\/p>\n On Friday, officials in Utah announced<\/a> that law enforcement had captured a 22-year-old suspect in Kirk\u2019s shooting, identified as Tyler Robinson, according to The New York Times.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Herbert\u2019s posts on Kirk surfaced on X as screenshots called out<\/a> by policing and politics podcast host<\/a> John Macari, a former lieutenant in the NYPD, who referred to the meme as \u201cdisgusting\u201d and \u201cracist.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/091321_tony_herbert_2.jpg\")
Public Advocate candidate Tony Herbert disrupts a press conference held by elected officials on conditions on Rikers Island, Sept. 13, 2021. Credit: Ben Fractenberg\/THE CITY<\/p>\n