New York Mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani apologised to the NYPD on Wednesday during an interview with the news channel.
During an interview with Fox News, the anchor Martha MacCallum told the democratic nominee that the police don't want his closed-door apology , he didn't miss the chance to use the broadcast to say sorry to NYPD.
What Mamdani said in 2020?
Following the 2020 murder of George Floyd — a Black man killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, which ignited nationwide protests over racial injustice and police brutality — New York State Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani voiced strong support for defunding the NYPD.
In several posts on X (formerly Twitter), Mamdani accused the department of being “racist, anti-queer, and a major threat to public safety,” urging city leaders to make real cuts rather than what he called “budget tricks.”
“We don’t need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety. What we need is to #DefundTheNYPD,” Mamdani said in June 2020 in a response to another user’s post that has since been deleted. “But your deal with @NYCMayor uses budget tricks to keep as many cops as possible on the beat. NO to fake cuts – defund the police .”
In a multipost thread in December 2020 responding to a ProPublica report that scrutinized how the NYPD enforced laws surrounding the sex trade, the democratic socialist candidate again called for the department to be defunded.
“All this misery. All for money. In the last budget, the City Council tried to make the NYPD reduce its overtime budget by half. They simply refused,” he wrote in December 2020. “There is no negotiating with an institution this wicked & corrupt. Defund it. Dismantle it. End the cycle of violence.”
'I’ll apologize to police officers right here': Momdani
Mamdani initially pledged to apologise for his incendiary 2020 remarks last month. Since then, he expressed his regret during private meetings with police officers. “Police officers that I spoke to, they don’t want a behind-closed-doors apology,” Fox News’ Martha MacCallum told Mamdani during Wednesday’s edition of The Story, his first appearance on the conservative network as a candidate.
“They want a broad public apology for the things that you suggested about them. Will you do that right now?” Mamdani accepted the request. “Absolutely, I’ll apologise to police officers right here, because this is the apology that I’ve been sharing with many rank-and-file officers,” he said.
“I apologise because of the fact that I’m looking to work with these officers. And I know that these officers, these men and women who serve in the NYPD, they put their lives on the line every single day.” He stated that his perspective evolved from his time in the state Legislature and from comments by one of his chief nemeses, Mayor Eric Adams, regarding the relationship between social justice and public safety.
“It was actually Eric Adams in 2021 who said that New Yorkers need not choose between these two things,” Mamdani said. “And so one of my focuses was, ‘How do we deliver that justice?’ And now what I know, having represented 100,000 people in western Queens, is that to deliver that justice you have to also deliver that safety. And that means representing the men and women in the NYPD. It means representing the Black and brown New Yorkers who have been victims of police brutality. It means representing the Muslim New Yorkers in my district who were surveilled on the basis of their faith.”
Netizens react
He might be apologising to the police on the public platform, thinking that this could solve the issue but netizens find hollowness.
One of the user, commenting on the video, said, "Mamdani’s apology is as hollow as his record. This is the same guy who voted to gut NYPD gang units, block surveillance in public housing, and defund precision policing—policies that actually drove shootings to record lows."
Another user said, "He said it he believes it. An apology is not changing his mind."
"Words. Look at his actions. Closely!! Come on NYC, please don’t fall for this carnival barker!!!" a user commented.
During an interview with Fox News, the anchor Martha MacCallum told the democratic nominee that the police don't want his closed-door apology , he didn't miss the chance to use the broadcast to say sorry to NYPD.
What Mamdani said in 2020?
Following the 2020 murder of George Floyd — a Black man killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, which ignited nationwide protests over racial injustice and police brutality — New York State Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani voiced strong support for defunding the NYPD.
In several posts on X (formerly Twitter), Mamdani accused the department of being “racist, anti-queer, and a major threat to public safety,” urging city leaders to make real cuts rather than what he called “budget tricks.”
“We don’t need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety. What we need is to #DefundTheNYPD,” Mamdani said in June 2020 in a response to another user’s post that has since been deleted. “But your deal with @NYCMayor uses budget tricks to keep as many cops as possible on the beat. NO to fake cuts – defund the police .”
We don't need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety.
— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) June 29, 2020
What we need is to #DefundTheNYPD.
But your deal with @NYCMayor uses budget tricks to keep as many cops as possible on the beat.
NO to fake cuts - defund the police. https://t.co/2RCXU8heg2
In a multipost thread in December 2020 responding to a ProPublica report that scrutinized how the NYPD enforced laws surrounding the sex trade, the democratic socialist candidate again called for the department to be defunded.
“All this misery. All for money. In the last budget, the City Council tried to make the NYPD reduce its overtime budget by half. They simply refused,” he wrote in December 2020. “There is no negotiating with an institution this wicked & corrupt. Defund it. Dismantle it. End the cycle of violence.”
'I’ll apologize to police officers right here': Momdani
Mamdani initially pledged to apologise for his incendiary 2020 remarks last month. Since then, he expressed his regret during private meetings with police officers. “Police officers that I spoke to, they don’t want a behind-closed-doors apology,” Fox News’ Martha MacCallum told Mamdani during Wednesday’s edition of The Story, his first appearance on the conservative network as a candidate.
'I APOLOGIZE': New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani issued an apology to NYPD officers during an interview with @marthamaccallum for his past comments about the police force. | @TheStoryFNC pic.twitter.com/HzIGA3f2U4
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 15, 2025
“They want a broad public apology for the things that you suggested about them. Will you do that right now?” Mamdani accepted the request. “Absolutely, I’ll apologise to police officers right here, because this is the apology that I’ve been sharing with many rank-and-file officers,” he said.
“I apologise because of the fact that I’m looking to work with these officers. And I know that these officers, these men and women who serve in the NYPD, they put their lives on the line every single day.” He stated that his perspective evolved from his time in the state Legislature and from comments by one of his chief nemeses, Mayor Eric Adams, regarding the relationship between social justice and public safety.
“It was actually Eric Adams in 2021 who said that New Yorkers need not choose between these two things,” Mamdani said. “And so one of my focuses was, ‘How do we deliver that justice?’ And now what I know, having represented 100,000 people in western Queens, is that to deliver that justice you have to also deliver that safety. And that means representing the men and women in the NYPD. It means representing the Black and brown New Yorkers who have been victims of police brutality. It means representing the Muslim New Yorkers in my district who were surveilled on the basis of their faith.”
Netizens react
He might be apologising to the police on the public platform, thinking that this could solve the issue but netizens find hollowness.
One of the user, commenting on the video, said, "Mamdani’s apology is as hollow as his record. This is the same guy who voted to gut NYPD gang units, block surveillance in public housing, and defund precision policing—policies that actually drove shootings to record lows."
Another user said, "He said it he believes it. An apology is not changing his mind."
"Words. Look at his actions. Closely!! Come on NYC, please don’t fall for this carnival barker!!!" a user commented.
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