Mamdani 9/11 remarks draw attention
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The gist
NYC Mayor Mamdani released 170,000 pages of 9/11 records and accused past leaders of lying about.
The fight over whether he should attend Friday's Ground Zero ceremony now shadows the.
Background
Mamdani is New York City's first Muslim mayor and was nine years old when the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks happened; he has long faced Islamophobic comments and has spoken about how the post-9/11 era shaped his life in the city. Ahead of the 25th anniversary, old remarks of his resurfaced, and some victims' families and Republican politicians called on him not to attend the remembrance event. The dispute intensified after former Mayor Rudy Giuliani said he would be offended if Mamdani attended, and a petition urging his exclusion reached 100,000 signatures.
How it unfolded
- Sep 7, 2026Giuliani says Mamdani should skip the 9/11 ceremony during a rant against Islam; Mamdani confirms he will attend but declines to respond to Giuliani's remarks.
- Sep 8, 2026Mamdani releases more than 170,000 pages of records on toxic air quality after the attacks and accuses previous city leaders of lying about air safety.
- Sep 8, 2026A petition urging Mamdani's exclusion from the 9/11 event reaches 100,000 signatures.
- Sep 10, 2026Reports describe partisan rancor threatening the solemn unity of the ceremony, with critics citing his politics and supporters calling the exclusion calls unfair.
Who’s saying what
- Critics
- Critics say Mamdani's progressive politics and his past remarks, including an affiliation with streamer Hasan Piker, make him unfit to attend; Giuliani said he would be offended if Mamdani attended.
- Support
- Supporters argue calls to bar him from the ceremony are unfair, noting he has attended public and private events honoring victims, including the unveiling of a new NYPD memorial wall.
- Expert
- Scott Hibbard, a DePaul University political science professor, said the rhetoric today is in some ways similar to post-9/11 Islamophobia.
- Official
- Mamdani said he loves the city and country and wants the week focused on the families and first responders, calling Sept. 11 a horrific act of terror.
Still unverified
Giuliani made claims that critics and others have described as baseless, including suggesting the mayor does not believe the Sept. 11 attacks were acts of terrorism; some have characterized Giuliani's comments as anti-Muslim. The Fox News report of 'growing backlash' and a resurfaced old post is single-source and its date is unknown.