Socialist Zohran Mamdani tried to cancel Charlie Kirk NYC event over lies about transphobia, bigotry

New York City socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is facing renewed criticism after it was revealed that he once signed a letter labeling Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated last week, as an “extremist” while attempting to block him from speaking in Queens, Mamdani’s district as assemblyman.

In June 2023, Mamdani and several other local Democrats issued a press release condemning Motif Studios for agreeing to host a Turning Point USA and Blexit event at the Tammany House in Long Island City, according to Fox News. The letter accused Kirk, along with Candace Owens and other invited speakers, of promoting “transphobic, bigoted views.”

“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 statement read. “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 urged Motif Studios to follow the lead of another venue that had canceled the event after community pressure. “Hate has no home in Queens, New York City, or anywhere else and certainly not here in Long Island City,” the letter added.

The event ultimately went forward, with Kirk later posting video of activists being escorted out after trying to disrupt the proceedings.

GOP Assemblyman Jake Blumencranz told Fox News that Kirk’s assassination highlights the dangers of political suppression. “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.”

Blumencranz said. “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 argued that Mamdani’s record shows a double standard on free speech. “What’s most telling is Mamdani’s double standard: the speech he rushes to protect, like ‘globalize the intifada,’ which many view as a call to violence against Jews, tears at America’s fabric, while the speech he vigorously fights to silence is the very kind that keeps our democracy alive,” he said.

He added, “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 condemned Kirk’s killing, describing it as “horrific” and attributing it to America’s broader epidemic of gun violence. Speaking to supporters, Mamdani called Kirk “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 said he was “horrified” by the assassination, adding that “political violence has no place in our country.” The suspect in Kirk’s killing is a far leftist who was sympathetic to Antifa and trans ideology.