In the ultimate days of New York City’s mayoral race, Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani has confronted pushback over a story he told about his aunt being afraid to put on her hijab whereas using the subway after the September 11, 2001, assaults.
National Republicans together with Vice President JD Vance mocked Mamdani’s story, which the nominee advised throughout a Friday speech criticizing his rival Andrew Cuomo for appearing to laugh along with a radio host who prompt Mamdani would cheer one other 9/11.
Accounts on X flagged a LinkedIn profile belonging to Mamdani’s father’s sister wherein she shouldn’t be carrying a head overlaying.
Mamdani advised reporters Monday that he was talking about “Zehra fuhi, my father’s cousin, who passed away a few years ago.” (Fuhi is a time period in Urdu and Hindi meaning paternal aunt. Mamdani was born in Uganda to folks of Indian origin.)
That led to a New York Post headline referring to Mamdani’s “aunt” in citation marks – and sharp questioning throughout a Tuesday morning radio interview.
“My question is, how can you, Zohran Mamdani, convince New Yorkers to go and vote for you when you just said you lied?” stated Carlos Molina, one of many hosts on Latino radio station La Mega 97.9’s “El Vacilón de la Mañana.”
“It’s not a lie,” Mamdani responded. “My father’s cousin is my aunt. That is how I referred to her all my life.”
The argument over what constitutes a family member underscored each the sensitivity of the 9/11 assaults in New York City 24 years on in addition to how Mamdani has leaned into discussing his Muslim religion and upbringing through the marketing campaign. The 34-year-old is vying to grow to be the town’s first South Asian and Muslim mayor.
Mamdani has accused right-wing media and his opponents of attempting to discredit his story as an alternative of specializing in Cuomo’s assaults on his religion and the options that Mamdani can be delicate on terrorism or crime.
“It just shows the idea of a Muslim woman wearing a hijab and feeling uncomfortable after 9/11 is so foreign to the right wing in this city and this country that the only answer to them is that it must be a lie,” Mamdani stated.
Still, the hosts Tuesday morning weren’t able to again down.
“The reason I am being so hard on you is because you’re going to be the mayor of the biggest city in the United States and we need to know that our politicians that we are electing (are) truthful,” Molina stated.
Mamdani responded by saying he understood New Yorkers who learn the New York Post, one of many metropolis’s day by day newspapers that has lengthy been important of him, can be confused. He then ended the interplay by teasing Molina for urgent him about the kind of mayor he can be though the host doesn’t reside in New York and was not sitting within the studio to query him in particular person. Molina lives in Florida.
“I don’t even take this as you coming at me hard – these are the questions you should be asking, I understand if you’re opening up the New York Post and this is what you read, many New Yorkers will say well how am I supposed to feel about it, so you’re giving the opportunity to tell the truth and correct the record,” Mamdani stated.
“I’m trying to be a mayor so honest that you come back to New York City, my brother,” Mamdani stated to laughs.