Cuomo Laughed When Informed Mamdani Would Cheer One other 9/11

Andrew Cuomo on the talk stage on Wednesday.
Picture: Hiroko Masuike/Bloomberg/Getty Photos

Throughout an interview Thursday morning, former governor Andrew Cuomo appeared to snicker following a radio host’s assertion that Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, who can be town’s first Muslim mayor, would cheer within the occasion of a second 9/11-style assault occurring underneath his tenure.

In an look on host Sid Rosenberg’s program Sid & Buddies within the Morning, Cuomo recounted his favourite second of the earlier evening’s debate, saying he relished calling out Mamdani on his perceived lack of expertise and urged that he was unprepared to steer town by means of a disaster.

“That job is a scary job. You get up as mayor, you get up as governor, any morning, there’s a jail rebellion. There was only a mass taking pictures, there’s Legionnaires’ illness, there’s gonna be a fiscal collapse. Wall Road is transferring to doubt,” he mentioned.

Cuomo continued, “Any given morning, there’s a disaster and other people’s lives are at stake. God forbid one other 9/11. Are you able to think about Mamdani within the seat?” Cuomo mentioned.

Rosenberg lower in, “I might. He’d be cheering.”

The previous governor laughed. “That’s one other drawback. However are you able to think about that?”

Mamdani weighed in on the change in an interview with PIX11 Thursday morning, calling the remarks “disgusting.”

“That is Andrew Cuomo’s last moments in public life and he’s selecting to spend them making racist assaults on the one who can be the primary Muslim to steer this metropolis,” he mentioned. “And, frankly, it’s not about me. It’s about the truth that there are greater than 1 million Muslims who reside in New York Metropolis. And to have our religion be smeared and slandered by somebody who, at one level, was thought-about a pacesetter within the Democratic Social gathering, showcases the truth that bigotry and racism isn’t solely a Republican drawback.”

Wealthy Azzopardi, spokesman for the Cuomo marketing campaign, mentioned Cuomo himself doesn’t agree with Rosenberg’s assertion and that the previous governor was alluding to his personal previous criticism of Mamdani for his affiliation with Twitch streamer Hasan Piker who made controversial feedback about 9/11. Mamdani, who has been interviewed by the streamer, denounced these remarks throughout final week’s debate after they have been as soon as once more raised by Cuomo.

“He was referring to Mamdani’s shut buddy Hasan Piker, who mentioned ‘America deserved 9/11,’ an announcement 9/11 households referred to as on Zohran Mamdani to denounce however he refused for months. This isn’t new — the governor held a press convention together with 9/11 households to denounce Mamdani’s affiliation with and refusal to denounce Piker’s hateful feedback. The general matter of the dialog was that Mamdani is deeply unqualified and unprepared to be mayor of the best metropolis on Earth, which each and every New Yorker noticed final evening,” Azzopardi mentioned in an announcement.

However quite a few state and native leaders shortly condemned the second between Cuomo and Rosenberg. “That is Cuomo’s closing message to New Yorkers: making mild of 9/11 and stoking hatred towards the primary Muslim mayor in New York Metropolis,” Consultant Jerry Nadler mentioned. “Think about if this type of bigotry was used towards another religion — Jewish or Christian New Yorkers. Would we roll over and settle for it?”

On X, Governor Kathy Hochul wrote, “Time to get out of the gutter. Concern-mongering, hate speech, and Islamophobia are beneath New York — and all the things we stand for as a state.”

Even Consultant Richie Torres, who has forcefully emphasised his variations with Mamdani’s insurance policies on numerous events, got here to the assemblymember’s protection Thursday. “To insinuate {that a} mayoral candidate would have fun a second 9/11 is past disgusting and disgraceful. All of us have a duty to decrease the temperature and to revive a measure of civility to our public discourse,” he mentioned.

However Thursday’s incident is a stark instance of the more and more private and coarse nature of the waning weeks of the mayoral race. In Wednesday evening’s debate, each Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa went after Mamdani for his stances on the battle in Gaza, with Sliwa alleging he supported “world jihad,” an assertion Mamdani swiftly rejected. When Sliwa blamed Cuomo for reducing the variety of mental-health beds as governor, Cuomo quipped, “There’s one mattress I’m going to avoid wasting for you.” Mamdani denounced Cuomo as “Trump’s puppet” and raised previous allegations of sexual harassment towards the previous governor (which Cuomo has lengthy denied), even inviting one alleged accuser, Charlotte Bennett, to the talk as his visitor.

However the rhetoric has escalated exterior the confines of the marketing campaign. In September, a Texas man was arrested for making terroristic threats towards Mamdani, together with profane and racist references to his religion.