❓WHAT HAPPENED: Democrat New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s claim that his aunt stopped riding the subway after 9/11 “because she did not feel safe” wearing her hijab is under scrutiny, with social media sleuths alleging she did not even live in the U.S. at the time of the attack.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Zohran Mamdani, his “aunt,” and social media users.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The controversy surfaced during the New York City mayoral race, in October 2025.
💬KEY QUOTE: “I want to speak to the memory of my aunt, who stopped taking the subway after September 11th because she did not feel safe in her hijab.” – Zohran Mamdani
🎯IMPACT: The controversy has fueled debate over Mamdani’s honesty and integrity.
Zohran Mamdani, the Democrats’ far-left, Ugandan immigrant candidate for New York City Mayor, is facing further pressure for a speech on “Islamophobia” in which he suggested his Muslim aunt was a victim of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, because she “did not feel safe” wearing her hijab on the New York City subway afterwards. Social media sleuths claim to have found the LinkedIn page for his only aunt on his father’s side, Masuma Mamdani, and discovered she does not wear a hijab and lived in Tanzania in 2001. His mother’s family is Hindu.
Mamdani was already facing backlash for the anecdote, as it appeared to emphasize Muslims who felt uncomfortable after 9/11 over the 2,977 people who were killed on the day, mostly in New York City. Vice President J.D. Vance voiced the sentiments of many critics by remarking that, “According to Zohran, the real victim of 9/11 was his auntie who got some (allegedly) bad looks.”
A number of social media users have compared Mamdani’s anecdote to a famous viral post by the late comedian Norm MacDonald, who quipped in 2016, “What terrifies me is if ISIS were to detonate a nuclear device and kill 50 million Americans. Imagine the backlash against peaceful Muslims?”
Some are attempting to defend Mamdani, however, arguing the aunt referenced in his story may not be Masuma Mamdani, but some other relative or family friend. “South Asians often call even their parents’ cousins, second cousins, third cousins, and also their parents’ friends ‘aunts.’ So this isn’t such a simple open-and-shut case. If you’re South Asian, you’d know who the aunties are,” said one social media user cited by The Times of India.
Mamdani’s aunt didn’t take the subway after 9/11… because she didn’t live in NYC… she was working in Tanzania.
This sociopath can’t help himself https://t.co/vme2YEjLS7 pic.twitter.com/F6Xli4QVXt
— Jake Chapman 🇺🇸🚀 ✨🇺🇸 (@vc) October 26, 2025
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