Andrew Cuomo laughed Thursday at the suggestion that his mayoral election rival Zohran Mamdani would be “cheering” over another 9/11, sparking outrage from Democrats.
The former governor, who is running as an independent, was caught chuckling at the notion that the socialist front-runner would applaud a heinous attack on the city while appearing on the conservative WABC radio show “Sid & Friends In The Morning.”
“God forbid, another 9/11 — can you imagine Mamdani in the seat?” Cuomo asked host Sid Rosenberg, questioning how the young Democratic nominee would fare as mayor in such an emergency situation.
“He’d be cheering,” Rosenberg quipped.
“That’s another problem,” Cuomo said with a laugh.
Mamdani, who would be the first Muslim mayor if elected, later condemned the comments during an unrelated press conference in Murray Hill. When asked by reporters if he thought the remarks were rooted in Islamophobia, he gave a resounding “yes.”
“I don’t think anything justifies those kinds of remarks,” the Queens assemblyman said, noting that the comments also contradicted Cuomo’s promise to “bring New Yorkers together” during Wednesday night’s mayoral debate.
The backlash was swift, with a slew of Democrats attacking the three-term governor over his rhetoric. Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres, who had endorsed Cuomo during the party’s mayoral primary, weighed in.
“To insinuate that a mayoral candidate would celebrate a second 9/11 is beyond disgusting and disgraceful,” Torres said in a post to X. “We all have a responsibility to lower the temperature and to restore a measure of civility to our public discourse. It should be possible to critique a candidate’s ideas without demonizing the candidate himself.”
Cuomo’s successor, Gov. Kathy Hochul, also condemned the comments, calling them “fear-mongering, hate speech, and Islamophobia” in a post to X. “Time to get out of the gutter,” she added.
Cuomo defended himself against the attacks Thursday afternoon, saying he had a problem with the company Mamdani keeps.
“I said about 9/11, ‘that’s another problem,’ referring to what I have said repeatedly, which is, I have a problem with the fact that Zohran pals around with Hasan Piker, who said, America deserves 9/11,” he told reporters, referring to the left-wing influencer associated with Mamdani.
Mamdani, after being repeatedly pressed about sitting down for an interview with Piker, denounced the popular Twitch streamer’s past vile remarks.
“I find the comments that Hasan made on 9/11 to be objectionable and reprehensible,” Mamdani said during last week’s first general election debate, after being pushed by Cuomo.
Meanwhile, Mayor Eric Adams, who formally endorsed Cuomo on Thursday, also defended his newfound ally.
“You see what’s playing out in other countries because of Islamic extremism,” the mayor said at a press conference in East Harlem alongside Cuomo. “Not Muslims, let’s not mix this up, but those Islamic extremisms that are burning churches in Nigeria, that are destroying communities in Germany, that have taken over the logical thinking, and that’s what I’m fighting for,” Adams added.
https://nypost.com/2025/10/23/us-news/cuomo-laughs-at-joke-that-zohran-mamdani-would-be-cheering-over-another-9-11/
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