Cuomo under fire after apparent Islamophic comment

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo was riding high last night. He performed well in the second and final New York City mayoral debate, managed to catch the end of The Knicks home-opener win courtside and had an endorsement from Mayor Eric Adams in the pipeline. Then he went on Sid Rosenberg’s conservative radio show and came crashing back to earth thanks to an Islamophobic comment that has drawn widespread condemnation during the homestretch of his campaign. 

Speaking on WABC’s Sid & Friends in the Morning, Cuomo spoke disparagingly of Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, his Democratic opponent who would be the first Muslim mayor of New York City, and how Mamdani might manage a disaster. "God forbid, another 9/11 – can you imagine Mamdani in the seat?" Cuomo asked. “He’d be cheering,” Rosenberg replied. “That’s another problem,” Cuomo said with a laugh.

Throughout the campaign, opponents of Mamdani – particularly Republicans – have lobbed Islamophobic attacks against him. Rep. Elise Stefanik, who is expected to run for governor, has doubled, tripled and quadrupled down on calling Mamdani a “jihadist,” ostensibly because he won’t explicitly condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada” and most recently over his appearance with a Imam Siraj Wahhaj, whom the government alleged was tangentially connected to 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

In fact, a new ad paid for by the anti-Mamdani super PAC For Our City featured a picture of Mamdani and Wahhaj with the words “JIHAD ON NYC” superimposed over the candidate. Wahhaj once used the word years ago to describe mass nonviolent protests by Muslim New Yorkers over the killing of Muslims during the Bosnian War.

Cuomo infamously barely set foot in mosques during his time as governor, but he has ramped up his campaign appearances at the houses of worship in recent weeks. He even launched “Muslims for Cuomo,” and said that Mamdani is not representative of Muslim New Yorkers. While Cuomo has consistently attacked Mamdani for declining to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada” and accused him of fomenting antisemitism against Jewish New Yorkers, his comment on Thursday morning went a step further. 

A wide array of elected officials swiftly denounced Cuomo over the apparent Islamophobia. “To look at a city where one in eight New Yorkers are Muslim and say that, by virtue of your faith, you are worthy of suspicion – it’s both incredibly disappointing and yet not surprising,” Mamdani told reporters. In an interview with Pix11’s Dan Mannarino, Mamdani said the governor’s comment was “disgusting.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul took to social media to call out the exchange. “Time to get out of the gutter,” she wrote on X. “Fear-mongering, hate speech, and Islamophobia are beneath New York – and everything we stand for as a state.” Cuomo in the debate Wednesday suggested he and Hochul would be able to have a positive working relationship.

Rep. Jerry Nadler, the dean of New York’s congressional delegation who has endorsed Mamdani, called out Cuomo more explicitly. “This is Cuomo’s closing message to New Yorkers: making light of 9/11 and stoking hatred against the first Muslim mayor in New York City,” he wrote on X. Rep. Ritchie Torres, one of Israel’s staunchest supporters in Congress, offered a similar statement on social media. “To insinuate that a mayoral candidate would celebrate a second 9/11 is beyond disgusting and disgraceful,” he wrote on X. “We all have a responsibility to lower the temperature and to restore a measure of civility to our public discourse.”

Asked on Thursday about the comment, Cuomo said he was referring to Mamdani’s relationship with Hasan Piker, a controversial streamer Mamdani has appeared with who once said that America deserved 9/11. “The host said whatever the host said,” Cuomo said of Rosenberg (without condemning the laughing statement), attempting to distinguish it from his own follow-up comment. “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.” 

Piker never came up during the lead-up to the exchange between Cuomo and Rosenberg. Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo, said that Piker was on the former governor’s mind during the conversation. He also said  Cuomo did not agree with what Rosenberg said. 

As for the radio host himself, Rosenberg doubled down on his remarks on social media while defending Cuomo. “Andrew didn’t say @ZohranKMamdani would be cheering if God Forbid we experienced another 9/11,” he wrote on X. “I said it!!!” Rosenberg also said he would invite Hochul, Nadler and Torres to “Hug a Terrorist Day” hosted by Mamdani.

Cuomo sought to distance himself from Islamophobic attacks of Mamdani, but just hours after appearing on Rosenberg’s show, he held a joint press conference with Adams, who proceeded to make another Islamophobic comment. “New York can’t be Europe folks,” Adams said. “I don’t know what is wrong with people, you see what’s playing out in other countries because of Islamic extremism.” Although Adams added that he was not talking about Muslims in general, referencing the negative impacts of “Islamic extremism” in Europe is a common Islamophobic dog whistle. Right-wing commentators and online influencers often are more explicit in referencing London Mayor Sadiq Khan, the city’s first Muslim mayor. 

Despite Cuomo’s explanation that no, he was talking about someone totally different, some observers on Thursday said that Islamophobia is one heck of a close to a long political career after falling from grace already. “This is truly the ugliest way to end a 30+ year political career and completely destroy what was once a storied political name in NY and national politics,” Lis Smith, a one-time Cuomo adviser who is now a vocal critic, wrote on X.