A decade-old radio interview featuring New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaking in what critics call a "fake" Ugandan accent has resurfaced online, drawing pointed mockery from conservative commentators across social media.
The 2016 clip, recorded on South Africa's Kaya 959 radio station while Mamdani was promoting his mother Mira Nair's Disney film Queen of Katwe, began circulating again on X this week. Multiple conservative figures seized on the footage, accusing the mayor of adopting an exaggerated accent that differs sharply from the way he speaks publicly as a New York politician. Fox News Digital reported reaching out to the mayor's office for comment but received no response.
Mamdani was born in Uganda, raised in South Africa, and moved to New York City at age seven. He holds dual U.S. and Ugandan citizenship. In the interview, he leaned into his East African roots while discussing the film and Ugandan culture.
In the 2016 interview, Mamdani drew a contrast between nightlife in New York and in Kampala, Uganda's capital:
"The difference for me is I'm from Uganda, but I also grew up in New York. In New York, you go out, some guys are very hesitant to dance."
He continued, describing the Ugandan scene in warmer terms:
"You know, if they're not grinding, they're just standing. In Kampala, you will just not find that. People are all dancing. Everybody's dancing, men, women and it's fantastic that way."
The comments themselves are innocuous enough. The controversy centers on how Mamdani delivered them, in a manner critics say sounded nothing like the New York accent he uses in his political life. This is not the first time the clip has made the rounds; it also resurfaced last year, though the current wave of criticism appears broader and more pointed.
Mamdani served as music supervisor, third assistant director, and appeared in a brief on-screen cameo in Queen of Katwe, a film based on the true story of Ugandan chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi. His mother, Mira Nair, directed the picture. In a separate 2013 interview, Nair reportedly said her son "is not an American at all", a remark that has added fuel to critics' argument that Mamdani's public identity shifts depending on the audience.
The sharpest criticism came from conservative media figures who framed the clip as part of a broader pattern among Democratic politicians. Benny Johnson, host of The Benny Show, posted on X:
"UNEARTHED: Zohran Mamdani does an obviously fake Ugandan accent while promoting a Disney movie based in Africa. How many Democrats have been caught using fake accents at this point? They're all frauds."
The Daily Wire struck a similar note, posting: "Nobody does a fake accent better than a Democrat politician."
Spencer Pratt, the former Los Angeles mayoral candidate, went further in his criticism. "Look at theater kid commie Mamdani running another fake accent and appropriating African culture," Pratt wrote on X. "Communists are all frauds. EVERY single one."
Mamdani's broader policy record has drawn sustained opposition well beyond social media jabs. Billionaire investor Bill Ackman has warned that Mamdani's socialist agenda will hollow out New York City, a concern shared by business leaders across the political spectrum.
Conservative social media commentator Tara Bull drew a comparison to past controversies involving Democratic politicians and shifting speech patterns. "Anyone else notice Mamdani's accent change?" Bull wrote on X. "He must've studied at Obama University."
Sammy Antar, identified as the former CFO of the Crazy Eddie electronics chain and a convicted fraudster, raised a different angle. "Has Zohran Mamdani ever explained when adopting another culture's accent is 'cultural appropriation' and when it is 'authenticity'?" Antar posted. "He had plenty to say about everyone else's privilege at Bowdoin." The reference to Bowdoin, a small liberal arts college in Maine, suggests Mamdani had previously spoken about cultural privilege in an academic setting, though the specifics of those remarks are unclear.
That line of attack cuts closer to the bone than the accent mockery itself. Mamdani has built his political brand on progressive identity politics and an explicit challenge to what he frames as structural privilege. If the mayor once lectured others about cultural appropriation but then adopted an accent critics say was not authentically his own, the contradiction speaks for itself.
The accusation of inconsistency extends to his policy positions. Mamdani has faced sharp criticism for his city-owned grocery store initiative, which bans alcohol and cigarettes and mandates what officials call a "healthy eating" push, the kind of top-down government overreach that sits uneasily alongside populist rhetoric about empowering working people.
Kevin Smith, host of Loud Majority Live, tied the accent controversy back to Mamdani's relationship with corporate America. "When did Disney start to suck? When they hired the directors son who had a fake Ugandan accent," Smith wrote. "He didn't mind 'big corporations' when they were signing his checks."
Conservative Brief, a right-wing political news website, framed the clip as part of a recurring Democratic problem. "Another One?!" the outlet posted. "Here's some footage found of NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani attempting to use a fake Ugandan accent while promoting a movie based in Africa. What is with the Democrats and their fake accents?!"
Fox News Digital reached out to the mayor's office for comment on the resurfaced clip. No response has been reported. The silence is consistent with Mamdani's approach to several recent controversies, declining to engage directly with critics while pressing ahead with his policy agenda.
That agenda has generated opposition from unexpected quarters. Immigrant business owners in New York have prepared a lawsuit challenging Mamdani's taxpayer-funded grocery stores, arguing the program undercuts the very communities the mayor claims to champion.
Even members of his own party have broken ranks. Veterans of the Clinton and Obama administrations have turned on Mamdani over his tax proposals and his stance on Israel, a sign that the mayor's ideological positioning has alienated not just the right but the Democratic establishment as well.
Whether Mamdani's 2016 accent was a natural code-switch by a man with genuine roots in Uganda and South Africa, or a calculated performance for a foreign audience, remains a matter of interpretation. Mamdani himself has not weighed in. But the clip's staying power, it surfaced last year and has now returned with broader reach, suggests the question of who Zohran Mamdani really is, and which version of himself he presents to which audience, is not going away.
A politician who has struggled to define "working class" while pushing tax hikes on working New Yorkers might want to start by defining himself, before his critics finish the job for him.
