New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani admitted a major inaccuracy in a story he told to bring home his point about bigotry against Muslims in the United States.
Last week, Mamdani spoke through tears about the bigotry faced by Muslims in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, claiming his aunt was too afraid to wear her hijab on the subway. However, media scrutiny uncovered that the Democrat only had one aunt, who doesn’t wear a hijab and who was living in Tanzania at the time. On Monday, he altered his story, saying he was actually talking about a distant cousin.
“I was speaking about Zehra fuhi, my father’s cousin, who sadly passed away a few years ago,” Mamdani told reporters when asked about the subject of the story, with “fuhi” meaning paternal aunt in Urdu. “And for the takeaway for my more than 10-minute address about Islamophobia in this race and in this city, to be the question of my aunt, tells you everything about Andrew Cuomo and his inability to reckon with a crisis of his own making.”
Mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo never mentioned Mamdani’s aunt, however. His only comment on Mamdani’s 9/11 story was to call it “insulting,” bringing up his association with progressive streamer Hasan Piker, whom he invited to a rally with a “new media” press pass.
“I think that is insulting to all New Yorkers,” Cuomo told reporters. “Hasan Piker is the person who said, ‘America deserved 9/11.’”
Mamdani’s comments that sparked the exchange were meant to target the perceived “Islamophobia” of his rival candidates — Cuomo, Curtis Sliwa, and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, all of whom he accused of mounting anti-Muslim attacks against his campaign.
“In an era of ever-diminishing bipartisanship, it seems that Islamophobia has emerged as one of the few areas of agreement,” he said.
“I want to speak to the memory of my aunt, who stopped taking the subway after Sept. 11 because she did not feel safe in her hijab,” Mamdani added, wiping away a tear during a speech outside the Islamic Cultural Center in The Bronx.
Some relatives of 9/11 victims were outraged by his comments, even before the revelation about the connection. Terry Strada, wife of Cantor Fitzgerald bond broker Tom Strada, 41, who died in the North Tower on 9/11, labeled Mamdani a “despicable liar.”
“I find what he had to say completely insulting to all of the people that suffered a horrible loss that day,” Terry Strada told the Daily Mail. “To compare an aunt being uncomfortable on the subway to all of these families that were murdered was just very insensitive and shows his true colors.”
MAMDANI’S CLOSING MESSAGE: WHINING ABOUT ‘ISLAMOPHOBIA’
“I don’t think he cares how the 9/11 community views his comments,” she continued. “It was shocking to hear because he is equating a Muslim woman wearing her hijab on the subway to nearly 3,000 people being murdered. There is no comparison.”
Brett Eagleson, son of Bruce Eagleson, 53, who was killed in the South Tower on 9/11, told the outlet that Mamdani’s comments amounted to “lunacy.”
