Zohran Mamdani at his Inaugural as NYC Mayor
'My fellow New Yorkers—today begins a new era.' New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani addresses the people during his inaugural on 1 January 2026. nyc.gov

Sid Rosenberg called him a cockroach. Zohran Mamdani didn't flinch.

New York City's first Muslim mayor stood before reporters on Tuesday and responded to the WABC radio host's social media attack with a statement that spread well beyond City Hall. 'I am not ashamed of who I am. I am not ashamed of my faith. I am not ashamed of being the first Muslim mayor in the history of our city,' Mamdani said. 'And there is no amount of racism that will change the way in which I lead.'

Rosenberg, host of Sid and Friends in the Morning on 77 WABC, posted to X on Monday urging President Donald Trump to stop praising the mayor. He called Mamdani an 'America hating, Jew hating, Radical Islam cockroach' and a 'Jihadist America hating mayor,' according to CBS News.

Rosenberg's anger was said to have been triggered by Mamdani's criticism of US military strikes on Iran and his positions on immigration.

'Painfully Familiar' Language For Muslim New Yorkers

Mamdani, born in Kampala, Uganda, took office on 1 January after winning the mayoral election the previous month. He is the city's youngest mayor since 1892 and the first to take the oath on the Quran.

'To be called animals, insects, to be called a jihadist mayor, to be called 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,' he said at Tuesday's press conference.

He cautioned against treating it as routine politics. 'The silence that often greets this kind of bigotry, this kind of Islamophobia, is what allows it to fester,' Mamdani said.

The backlash was broad. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the language 'a disgusting display of bigotry and Islamophobia.' Governor Kathy Hochul labelled it 'hateful, racist, and disgusting.' City Council Speaker Julie Menin said the remarks were 'beyond the pale.' The Council on American-Islamic Relations described them as 'vile' and called for Rosenberg's programme to be cancelled.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who reportedly dined with Rosenberg recently, called the comments 'wholly inappropriate and deeply harmful,' NBC New York reported.

From 'I Did Nothing Wrong' To A Public Apology

Rosenberg did not back down immediately. On Tuesday, as criticism intensified, he posted: 'No one can force me to apologise. I won't do it. I did nothing wrong!' WABC itself posted 'We ARE Team Sid' on X that same day.

Wednesday brought a different tone. Rosenberg went on air, called the tweet 'a bit over the top' and offered what he described as a 'heartfelt apology.' He claimed the remarks had 'nothing to do with anybody's religion or faith.' The post has since been deleted.

A City Hall spokesperson confirmed Rosenberg had not contacted the mayor directly. Asked whether he accepted, Mamdani replied: 'Time will tell how sincere an apology it is.'

WABC CEO John Catsimatidis said personal attacks were not acceptable at the station. Management declined to comment on public calls to fire Rosenberg.

Rosenberg has targeted the mayor before. During an October broadcast with former governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran against Mamdani as an independent, Cuomo asked: 'God forbid another 9/11. Can you imagine Mamdani in the seat?' Rosenberg replied: 'Yeah, yeah, I could. He'd be cheering.'

More than one million Muslims live in New York City. Mamdani said the issue went beyond him personally. '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 dehumanising rhetoric in the absence of any kind of pushback,' he said.

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