Mayor Mamdani responds to 'dehumanizing' comments from radio host
A New York City radio host apologized for hateful comments he made toward Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
A radio host from WABC issued an apology for a now deleted social media post where he called Mayor Zohran Mamdani derogatory names.
Sid Rosenberg walked back his words on Wednesday morning, apologizing for his post on X, where he called Mamdani a "radical Islam cockroach."
"To the mayor, and anyone else that I offended with my tweet on Saturday, I send out a heartfelt apology,” Rosenberg said in a statement, "I will still continue to criticize the policies of the politicians that I believe make our lives in New York more difficult, if not dangerous," Rosenberg said on air.
The mayor said he learned of the apology on social media on Wednesday.
"I do want to take a moment, however, to say thank you to all of the New Yorkers, elected officials, leaders, in many of their own regards, who spoke up. Because frankly, this is not about me. This is about the more than one million Muslims who call New York City home, and who have long had to deal with racist and dehumanizing rhetoric and the absence of any kind of pushback," the mayor said.
The post was seen by just over a million people before it vanished from the platform, sparking political controversy online.
"To be called animals, insects, to be called a jihadist mayor, to be a cockroach, this language is both painfully familiar to me as a Muslim new yorker but also as someone who was born in East Africa and it is difficult to hear," Mayor Mamdani said at an unrelated press conference on Tuesday.
City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who appeared on Rosenberg's show last month, condemned the comments, calling them vile, hateful and deeply divisive.
"Referring to (the mayor) as a "jihadist" based simply on his faith or background is abhorrent, and using the term "cockroach" is beyond the pale," the speaker wrote on X.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch who dined with Rosenberg in January, also weighed in.
"Those comments were wholly inappropriate and deeply harmful. I do not share those views in any way, and any rhetoric that seeks to dehumanize and disparage someone’s religion cannot be tolerated," Tisch said in a statement.
The mayor says time will tell on the sincerity of the apology.
"What we saw over these last few days is so many leaders across the city standing up and saying that this is not the kind of language we will accept in a city that is home to all of us, not to any one set or group," the mayor said.
WABC Radio CEO John Catsimatidis released a public apology on Wednesday afternoon.
[twitter]https://twitter.com/77WABCradio/status/2029254621277864224?s=20[twitter]
"Personal attacks on individuals is not acceptable at WABC," said Catsimatidis, "Disagree with policies, disagree with opinions that is fine, that is what talk radio is all about, that is good for America to have opinions and disagreements and healthy conversation when we do disagree."
