Cuomo campaign distances itself from right-wing ‘memelord’

The topic of memes briefly dominated online discourse around the race for New York City mayor on Tuesday after a self-proclaimed “memelord” claimed to be working with Andrew Cuomo and his social media team to redefine city politics through edgy memes. 

On Monday night, Jason Levin posted on X to take credit for a meme mocking Zohran Mamdani that Cuomo’s account posted on August 15, which had hit nearly 7 million views as of Tuesday afternoon. Levin said he met with Cuomo on Monday evening to discuss “marketing strategy” and his plan to “save NYC with memes alone.”

It didn’t take long for online denizens to begin pulling up receipts on Levin, who is the founder of a service to assist with marketing through memes and so-called “memetic warfare” called Memelord Technologies. Levin’s feed is full of the generally trolly “shitpost” memes common in right-wing spaces online. His (and Cuomo’s) critics spotlighted a number of misogynistic and pro-Trump posts that Levin previously made, which would seem at odds with the values of Democrats like Cuomo. In one post, Levin said he was “kind of a big deal” because he voted for Trump in Pennsylvania. In another, he wrote “it’s union busting time baby.” And in yet another, Levin joked that he calls immigration officials on employees to avoid paying them.

Once those posts started to get attention, the Cuomo team quickly sought to distance itself from Levin. “The guy’s not paid, suggested one meme, we used it, did very well, the meme wasn’t problematic,” Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi told City & State. “And just to be clear, bigotry, misogyny, anything like that, we believe has no room in this race.” Azzopardi also disputed the idea that Levin had met with Cuomo on Monday to talk strategy, claiming instead that Levin simply attended a fundraiser. Levin did not immediately return a request for comment. 

Cuomo’s abrupt shift in social media tone and strategy gained significant attention as his campaign account began posting more frequently, leaned into internet culture (with varying degrees of success) and started using memes. It led many observers to wonder who was running the account now, both among those who praised the change and those who found it “cringe,” to use internet vernacular. On Monday, The New York Times reported that Cuomo had brought on Daniel Liss, the former head of a social media startup, to manage its social media.

But with Levin taking credit for at least one of the new memes, some like journalist Matt Binder began to question whether he was also involved with the campaign’s social media game. Cuomo’s account, which has begun prolifically replying to people interacting with its posts, had replied to posts from Levin and other accounts connected to his company. One post from Levin that Cuomo’s account replied to made reference to “tryna save the west,” a sentiment commonly used as a racist dog whistle among far right-wingers and white supremacists – as pointed out by Hell Gate. Azzopardi said the campaign’s online strategy has been to engage with lots of people, and any replies from Cuomo’s account to accounts connected to Levin were just a coincidence. At least two of the replies from Cuomo to Levin have since been deleted, including the one to Levin’s “save the west” post.