New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were caught laughing together while the names of 9/11 victims were being read at Ground Zero.
The Democrats were seen bursting into laughter during the solemn event on Friday morning in lower Manhattan, while mourners stood silently around them.
At the same moment, loved ones of the victims of the attacks were reading names of the deceased.
The moment quickly went viral across social media, as viewers branded their jovial reactions as ‘a slap in the face’ to victims.
It comes after Mamdani appeared at the event despite being urged not to attend by 9/11 victims groups, which he refused to honor.
Mamdani was also sharply criticized this week after he handed a ceremonial pen from a 9/11 remembrance ceremony to an attorney who once represented a convicted al Qaeda member, and whose brother was one of the hijackers in the attacks.
A petition launched by relatives of 9/11 victims urging the mayor to avoid the annual ceremony gained over 100,000 signatures, and former New York Governor George Pataki joined calls for Mamdani to stay away.
When asked this week for his response to calls to avoid the 9/11 event, Mamdani said he would still attend, and said he wanted ‘the focus to be on the families whose loved ones were stolen from them 25 years ago in the horrific act of terror of September 11th.’
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were caught laughing together while the names of 9/11 victims were being read at Ground Zero
The Democrats were seen bursting into laughter during the solemn event on Friday morning in lower Manhattan, while mourners stood silently around them
At the event at Ground Zero on Friday, Mamdani was also seen greeting former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani in an awkward exchange.
The pair got into a public spat after Giuliani also joined the calls for Mamdani to avoid this week’s 9/11 ceremonies.
Giuliani has said the Muslim mayor’s presence ‘offends’ him, and claimed Mamdani is ‘disturbing the people who are the most important people at that celebration.’
‘He stands in direct support of the movement that killed their children,’ he told Newsmax last week.
As a result, Mamdani released hundreds of thousands of previously unseen records that allegedly confirmed Giuliani’s administration knew about the toxic dangers of the city’s air quality following the September 11 attacks.
New York City councilwoman Vickie Paladino also joined calls for Mamdani to avoid the event, as she said his presence would sent a ‘message to Osama bin Laden that, look, “We conquered New York.”‘
