Zohran Mamdani, the socialist candidate for New York City's mayoral race, is under fire once more following the revelation that he previously endorsed a letter branding the late Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, as an "extremist.
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This move was part of an effort to prevent Kirk from delivering a speech in Queens, the district Mamdani represents as assemblyman.
According to The Post Millennial, in June 2023, Mamdani, along with a group of local Democrats, publicly criticized Motif Studios for their decision to host a Turning Point USA and Blexit event at the Tammany House in Long Island City. The letter they issued accused Kirk, Candace Owens, and other guest speakers of espousing "transphobic, bigoted views."
The statement read, "As elected officials representing western Queens, we are deeply disappointed by the decision by Motif Studios to host an event by the far-right extremist groups Blexit and Turning Point USA at their Triplex LIC/Tammany House venue in Long Island City."
The letter continued, "Providing a platform for the kind of transphobic, bigoted views held by invited speakers Candace Owens, Charlie Kirk, and others goes directly against the diversity and inclusivity that we hold dear as New Yorkers and is an insult to every member of our community."
The group of Democrats urged Motif Studios to emulate another venue that had previously cancelled the event due to community backlash. The letter added, "Hate has no home in Queens, New York City, or anywhere else and certainly not here in Long Island City."
Despite the opposition, the event proceeded as planned, with Kirk later sharing footage of activists being escorted out after attempting to disrupt the event.
Jake Blumencranz, a GOP Assemblyman, spoke to Fox News, stating that Kirk's assassination underscores the perils of political censorship. He said, "We cannot ignore that my colleagues, Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani and his radical DSA allies, once tried to silence Charlie Kirk in New York City, pressuring venues to cancel his events."
He continued, "That mindset of censorship and public shaming feeds the hostile climate we see today and corrodes the American ideal that speech must be met with more speech, not suppression."
Blumencranz further criticized Mamdani's record, pointing out a perceived double standard on free speech. He said, "Whats most telling is Mamdanis double standard: the speech he rushes to protect, like globalize the intifada, which many view as a call to violence against Jews, tears at Americas fabric, while the speech he vigorously fights to silence is the very kind that keeps our democracy alive."
He concluded, "New Yorkers must ask themselves what it would mean to have a Silencer-in-Chief like Zohran Mamdani in City Hall. New York deserves a Unifier-in-Chief, who will defend free expression and bring people together; clearly, Zohran Mamdani is not that leader.
Mamdani has since denounced Kirks murder, labeling it as horrific and attributing it to the wider issue of gun violence in America. Addressing his supporters, Mamdani referred to Kirk as yet another victim of gun violence in a nation where what should be a rarity has turned into a plague.
In a post on X, Mamdani expressed his horror at the assassination, stating that political violence has no place in our country. The individual suspected of Kirk's murder is reportedly a far-leftist with sympathies towards Antifa and trans ideology.
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