Pete Davidson questions whether Mayor Mamdani is "Staten Island" in Variety interview

Right · 2Comedian Pete Davidson questioned whether New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has any real connection to Staten Island, saying in a recent Variety interview, "Zohran Mamdani ... is he Staten Island? I don't know. I don't think he's from Staten Island." 1 2 Right · 1Davidson, 32, said he has no personal problem with the mayor, but "definitely" doesn't think he is "Staten Island at all", and described the borough as "the only red place in New York" that is "violently red". 1 Right · 1He said most of his family is "on the red side", describing this as not a "storm the capital vibe" but a view that Trump is "funny" and that people "just need something different", and not "a racist, misogynistic sort of thing". 2

Right · 2Davidson joked that "it's 1985 over there" and that "you are not a real Staten Island politician unless you have a secret family and know one mobster", adding, "I would not trust you to run Staten Island." 1 2 Right · 2The comments followed an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" the previous week, where Davidson, asked by Kimmel whether he had a question for the mayor (the next guest), said: could he fix the BQE (Brooklyn-Queens Expressway), please. 1 2 Right · 2Davidson complained that the BQE has been under construction since before he was born and that workers seem to do nothing amid the cones. Kimmel put the question to Mamdani, who pointed to a roughly $4 billion plan to rehabilitate the city-owned stretch between Atlantic Avenue and Sands Street, with construction expected to begin in 2030. 2 1

Right · 1Mamdani said the plan would repair the part of the highway most at risk over the next 10 years, with "full safety" and "no diversion of traffic into local neighborhoods"; the BQE runs through Brooklyn and Queens, not Staten Island. 2