A super PAC supporting former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the New York City mayoral election is running a late ad that depicts Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani in front of video of the Twin Towers crashing down on 9/11.
The ad quotes liberal streamer Hasan Piker, with whom Mamdani appeared earlier this year, saying “America deserved 9/11” during a 2019 livestream. Alongside Piker’s stream, the ad includes video of one of the World Trade Center towers bursting into flames during the 2001 terror attack, with Mamdani superimposed on top of the video for a moment.
“That’s Zohran’s buddy, Hasan Piker, saying we deserve 9/11. It’s a disgrace to every life lost,” the narrator says in the ad.
“Zohran went on Piker’s show, and now Piker was just spotted at Zohran’s event. Mamdani is wrong for New York.”
Mamdani’s opponents have repeatedly criticized the Democrat for appearing with Piker in early April, during the Democratic mayoral primary. Cuomo has repeatedly invoked the appearance to argue, among other things, that Mamdani wouldn’t be the right mayor for the city’s Jewish population, including making that case on the debate stage last month.
After months of criticism, Mamdani addressed Piker’s comments about 9/11 during the NBC 4 New York/Telemundo 47/Politico New York debate, calling them “objectionable and reprehensible.”
“I also think that part of the reason why Democrats are in the situation that we are in, of being a permanent minority in this country, is we are looking only to speak to journalists and streamers and Americans with whom we agree [on] every single thing that they say,” he added.
For Our City, the super PAC behind the ad, is one of the outside groups boosting Cuomo’s campaign. Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg is one of the largest funders of the group and gave $3.5 million on Oct. 29, campaign finance records show.
The ad comes two weeks after Cuomo briefly laughed during a radio interview when the host said Mamdani would be “cheering” if “another 9/11” happened on his watch, after which Cuomo added: “That’s another problem. But can you imagine that? If Mamdani was in the seat on 9/11, what would have happened in this city?”
Cuomo had been talking about executive experience before that exchange. Piker was not named during that portion of the interview, but a Cuomo spokesman, Rich Azzopardi, later told NBC News that Cuomo was referring to Piker in his response and that he did not agree with the interviewer’s comments.
The next day, Mamdani delivered an emotional speech outside a mosque in the Bronx, where he blasted the “racist, baseless” attacks he’s faced as a candidate, lamenting that “Islamophobia is not seen as inexcusable” and pledging to no longer brush the attacks aside and stay silent.
“While my opponents in this race have brought hatred to the forefront, this is just a glimpse of what so many have to endure every day across the city,” Mamdani said, later adding: “The question lies before each of us: Will we continue to accept a narrow definition of what it means to be a New Yorker?”
“I will not change who I am, how I eat or the faith that I am proud to call my own. but there is one thing that I will change: I will no longer look for myself in the shadows. I will find myself in the light,” Mamdani said.
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