Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s presence at Friday’s 9/11 remembrance at Ground Zero drew criticism from some in the city, including one former police officer who said the mayor “probably should have skipped it” and another mourner who called his appearance “disrespectful” and “very offensive.”
Mamdani has faced criticism over his associations with controversial political and online figures, as well as his decision to appoint Ramzi Kassem as his administration’s chief counsel. Kassem previously represented a Guantánamo detainee linked to an al Qaeda terrorist plot.
Former New York Republican Gov. George Pataki, 9/11-era FDNY Commissioner Thomas von Essen and others called on Mamdani to skip the ceremony.
“He showed up anyway. It does bother us,” Walter Matuza, whose father Walter was killed that day, told Fox News Digital.
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Matuza said he was part of the group of victims’ families that initiated the petition to keep Mamdani away.
He cited Mamdani’s association with streamer Hasan Piker, who once said America “deserved 9/11,” as well as Mamdani’s appointment of Kassem.
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Matuza, of Staten Island, said his father was one of dozens at Carr Futures brokerage who died after American Airlines Flight 11 struck the north tower just above their 92nd floor offices.
Mike, a former New Jersey police officer, told Fox News Digital he recalled watching the terror unfold on television from across the Hudson – and later came to Manhattan to help relieve exhausted NYPD officers stuck at their posts.
“Based on the rhetoric that he’s used in the past. Yeah, he probably should have skipped it,” Mike said of Mamdani.
He added that Mamdani’s appointment of Kassem also troubled him, saying the mayor could’ve handled the situation in a “whole different way.”
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“But, he did it and unfortunately people aren’t going to forget it.”
Another mourner called Mamdani a “communist” when asked about his appearance on Friday, adding that the memorial was “not supposed to be a political event.”
Steven, who traveled all the way to New York from Hobe Sound, Florida, to attend the remembrance, lambasted Mamdani’s presence as “disrespectful” and “offensive.”
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“I’ve been following that over the past couple weeks and I saw that I think they had upwards of 700,000 New Yorkers requesting him not to be here. I mean, as the mayor, I would assume he has the right to be here…. But who he represents and the people he’s affiliated with… I feel that he should stay away. I don’t feel that his presence here is wanted, and I think he should honor that as a human being.”
The petition had garnered more than 110,000 signatures at the time, according to the petition’s tally.
Steven called Kassem’s appointment “hideous” and added that the youngest generation who does not remember or did not live through 9/11 are suffering from “incorrect information” and do not understand the reality of the terror attack.
He said he will educate his children on 9/11 so that they do not go down the same ideological road.
Attendee John told Fox News Digital that Mamdani does have a right to attend.
John said he lost friends including at now-Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s Cantor-Fitzgerald firm – which lost more than 650 people; the most of any company in the Twin Towers that day – and that as long as Mamdani is respectful to the fallen Americans being remembered, he is “fine” with the Democrat attending.
Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani for comment.
In a prior statement, the mayor said he is proud of New York and “love[s] this city [and] country.”
“[W]hat I want this week to be a focus on is on the families whose loved ones were stolen from them 25 years ago in the horrific act of terror of September 11, and a focus also on the first responders who gave everything they could to this city and to the people who came together to try and help their fellow New Yorkers.”
During the ceremony, footage captured Mamdani approaching and greeting his 9/11-era predecessor, Republican Rudolph Giuliani.
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The two could be seen appearing to exchange brief pleasantries before Giuliani turned and sat down and an aide began speaking to the incumbent mayor.
All living former presidents reportedly attended the ceremony, as President Donald Trump instead visited the Pentagon’s remembrance before departing for County Clare, Ireland from nearby Andrews Air Force Base.
