New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani’s wife Rama Dowaj has apologized for a “harmful” social media post she made when she was a teenager.
Introducing Rama Dwaj, Zoran Mamdani’s wife and an accomplished artist.
Rama Dwaj, an artist and wife of New York Mayor Zoran Mamdani, has decided not to campaign or speak publicly with her husband.
New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani’s wife Rama Dowaj has apologized for a social media post she made when she was a teenager, now calling it “toxic.”
The Washington Free Beacon uncovered social media posts from several years ago in which Dowaj used a racial epithet against black people while referring to a friend, and also used anti-gay slurs.
“I felt extremely embarrassed in the face of the language I had used that was so harmful to others,” Dowaj, a 28-year-old illustrator and New York City’s first lady, said in an April 15 article published in the online art magazine Hyperallergic. “Just because you’re 15 years old is not an excuse,” Dwaj added.
Hyperallergic originally asked Dhwaj about becoming a public figure last year, when her husband Mamdani, 34, won the mayorship of the country’s largest city in a shocking upset. Duwaj quoted an old tweet and apologized for the language he used.
“I have read and seen many of the responses from others and I understand the hurt I have caused and am truly sorry,” she said. “My focus is not on becoming a public figure, but on continuing to work with care and responsibility and letting my art speak for itself.”
Dwaj did not specify which post prompted the apology. She also did not mention a recent post she shared about Israel, which some have noted criticizes Mamdani’s views on Israel and its treatment of Palestinians.
After some of her past social media activity became public, Mamdani said his wife was a “private person”.
Dowaj came under intense scrutiny in early March after he liked an Instagram post that appeared to support the first Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Later that month, the conservative news outlet Free Beacon reported on old social media posts by Douwaj, a Syrian-American born in Texas. She shared a Tumblr post honoring militant Palestinian women who participated in plane hijackings and bus bombings. Another repost of Dowaj, from around 2015, states that Tel Aviv should not exist because Israeli cities occupy Palestine.
In a 2013 post on Twitter (now known as Dowaj is not black.
City Hall did not respond to an emailed request for comment. In response to questions from reporters on April 16, Mamdani did not specify which posts his wife had apologized for.
“She expressed some of her thoughts in this interview,” Mamdani told reporters. “I don’t have much to add. But what I can say is that she’s an incredibly genuine person.”
He said questions about Dowaj’s social media posts were “part” of him being mayor and that it was his decision and his responsibility to New Yorkers.
Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Contact us via email (emcuevas1@usatoday.com) or Signal (emcuevas.01).
