Mamdani, AOC LAUGH at Ground Zero while 9/11 victims’ names are read

As is tradition, the names of nearly 3,000 victims of those that were killed in the 9/11 attacks were being read aloud at Ground Zero for the 25th anniversary of the attacks when a camera streaming the service cut to the two Democrat lawmakers while others around them appeared in reverence for the occasion. The man shown on camera just before the Democrats was seen breaking down in tears, a stark contrast.

The moment has quickly gone viral, with users saying that the show of laughter during the solemn moment was a "slap in the face" to the families who are mourning.

However, there have been reports disputing that Mamdani and Ocasio-Cortez were laughing. Michael Ragusa, an aide to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, said, "The videos of @NYCMayor and @AOC laughing are not true. I was standing next to them the whole time. The camera just caught her greeting him hello. Multiple other politicians were laughing and joking behind me. Republicans and Democrats."

Leading up to the memorial service, the families of those slain on that day in 2001 had called for Mamdani to not attend. He refused and attended the ceremony anyway. Earlier this week, Mamdani gave an attorney who once represented a convicted al-Qaeda member a ceremonial pen from a 9/11 remembrance ceremony. A petition to bar Mamdani from the Ground Zero ceremony gained over 100,000 signatures.

Earlier this week, when Mamdani was asked if he was going to attend, said that he was going despite the protests and wanted "the focus to be on the families whose loved ones were stolen from them 25 years ago in the horrific act of terror of September 11th."

Even as Mamdani attended the ceremony on Friday, there were protests for him to leave the premises.