It would almost be funny, at this point, if it weren’t so serious.
In the latest scandal to rock Democratic New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani’s candidacy, the socialist state assemblyman is revealed to have posted an offensive video of an Indian comedy troupe cosplaying as exaggerated Jewish stereotypes for Hanukkah last year.
The post was rediscovered by pro-Jewish group Stop Antisemitism, according to the New York Post, which has condemned Mamdani for his problematic statements regarding both Israel and Jewish people — including defending the use of the phrase “globalize the intifada.”
First, the original post from December, which features a video from the Geeta Brothers Duet Group and rather speaks for itself:
Happy 3rd night of Hanukkah from Astoria and Long Island City. pic.twitter.com/YoLvFq0wtj
— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) December 27, 2024
“Zohran Mamdani posts Indian men cosplaying Jews, spinning dreidels and lighting the menorah,” Stop Antisemitism said in a post on Saturday.
“Our holidays and traditions are sacred and not for your comedic pleasure @ZohranKMamdani — this is sick.”
Zohran Mamdani posts Indian men cosplaying Jews, spinning dreidels and lighting the menorah.
Our holidays and traditions are sacred and not for your comedic pleasure @ZohranKMamdani – this is sick. pic.twitter.com/iOn4LFftjX
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) July 5, 2025
Should Zohran Mamdani become mayor of New York City?
The music video, which dates from 2015, is from a parody album by the Geeta Brothers titled “Punjabi Christmas Album Hits.”
This probably wouldn’t be so much of a big deal if it weren’t from a number of factors, starting with the fact that tend to support Mamdani, if they are minorities, are fond of saying “my culture is not a costume.”
Case in point:
my culture is not a costume https://t.co/hZTkH72Ml1
— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) October 1, 2021
That guy would be offended by this post. Wonder what he’s up t– oh wait.
Let’s add to that the fact that Mamdani is — in a city that contains one of the largest concentrations of Jewish voters in the United States — desperately trying to make the case for normally Democratic voters not to go independent this fall.
Attempts to patch up the damage done by his “globalize the intifada” talk have failed, too, with a text from the Mamdani campaign referencing victims of the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack on Israel by Hamas as a reason Jewish voters should go for him.
“I want to go a bit off script for a second because I’m Jewish, wear a kippah every day, and I support Zohran,” read the message, whose author claimed to be an Orthodox Jewish man for Mamdani.
“My friend Idan was murdered on October 7 at the Re’im music festival. The war is personal to me, as it is to many in our community. Idan believed in peace, just like Zohran does,” the message continued. “He believed everyone should have access to affordable housing, good-paying jobs, and a life free of discrimination, just like Zohran.”
The New York Post was unable to verify the authenticity of the sender of the messages, but you can see why — even if everything was legit — this didn’t quite make a difference.
And, on top of all that, this comes after the revelation that the ethnically Indian Mamdani admitted he’d labeled himself as black on college applications — a move that would increase his chances of getting in — because, he claimed, it best represented the complexity of his birth in Uganda and subsequent period in South Africa.
The bedrock New York City Democratic electorate that tends to turn out for the general election is a lot less white, progressive, overeducated, and humanistic than the primary coalition that propelled Mamdani to success, and his weakness among black and Jewish voters in particular is an impediment to an easy victory in November. At the very least, then, you’d think maybe he’d have tried to scrub the cosplay Jews from his X profile — or, much preferably, not even posted it in the first place as he was preparing to run for Gracie Mansion.
But this is the unvarying problem with Zohran Mamdani’s campaign thus far: He doesn’t see that this is, indeed, a problem. That’s why he’ll keep on sticking the branch in the spokes of his front bicycle wheel for the foreseeable future, then blaming everyone but himself and Judge Joseph Force Crater for the subsequent fall.
Maybe you should have done a background check on this guy before nominating him, Democrats. Just saying.
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