At a press conference today, Adams wore an incredibly tight shirt with cheap-looking printing, similar to the one from just over a week ago, complete with an American flag and the phrase “in Dio confidiamo.”
Adams told the press the sentence was Spanish and meant to honor the victims of the tragic Dominican Republic nightclub-roof collapse. The phrase is actually Italian for “in God we trust.”
While I love Italy just as much as the next New Yorker (we have them to thank for pizza, Lady Gaga, etc.), the total apathy it takes to not even fact-check the words on your shirt is in bad taste. At least 184 people died at that nightclub. One has to wonder if his staff is “The Emperor’s New Clothes”–ing him: Not a single person saw Adams come into work that day, thought, How is he going to fumble this one?, and troubleshot?
Apart from the insensitivity of it all: Do we love, as a political strategy, that Adams has made these Shein-looking tiny baby tees his shtick? As another editor put it, it’s only a matter of time until we see him in a “Mommy’s Little Meatball” shirt.