Pro-communist New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani was forced to walk back portions of a viral story about his hijab-wearing “aunt” in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
Last week, Mamdani, a practicing Muslim, was joined by a number of Muslim community leaders when he claimed that his “aunt” eventually had to stop taking the subway due to abuse hurled her way following the attacks. “I want to speak to the memory of my aunt, who stopped taking the subway after September 11th because she did not feel safe in her hijab,” he said during the press conference.
He went on to attack both of his opponents, Curtis Sliwa and Andrew Cuomo, for espousing “Islamophobic” views throughout the campaign.
The speech was well received in left-wing circles, as it followed the familiar theme of portraying America as a “racist” country, while critics referred to it as “tone deaf” for portraying Muslims as the true victims of 9/11. Vice President JD Vance was among those critics, who said, “According to Zohran the real victim of 9/11 was his auntie who got some (allegedly) bad looks.”
The story was met with scrutiny throughout the weekend, as researchers dug up photos of a woman identified as his aunt not wearing a hijab in several photos. While speaking at a follow-up press conference on Monday, Mamdani admitted that he was not actually speaking about his aunt, but a distant relative.
“I was speaking about Zehra fuhi, my father’s cousin, who passed away a few years ago,” Mamdani told reporters about the relative, whom he said he affectionately called his aunt. Mamdani’s campaign did not provide the cousin’s full name when asked for comment by the New York Post.
Over the weekend, internet sleuths identified a public health consultant, Masuma Mamdani, and speculated that she was the only aunt of Mamdani’s that could be found. Photos of her without wearing a hijab circulated online, prompting questions during Monday’s press conference.
After admitting that portions of his story were misrepresented, the mayoral frontrunner attempted to deflect blame back on the reporter asking the question. “For the takeaway from 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 you need to know about Cuomo and his inability to reckon with a crisis of his own making,” he said.
Mamdani is heavily favored to become the next mayor of America’s largest city, as he currently leads by more than 15 percentage points in the RealClearPolitics polling average.
