Right-wing radio personality Sid Rosenberg returned to the airwaves Wednesday to issue an apology to Zohran Mamdani after receiving fierce backlash for calling the New York City mayor names and a “Jihadist.”
Rosenberg still slammed Mamdani on his radio show Wednesday, but also walked back some of the name calling after pushback and allegations of Islamophobia. He said he was outraged by the mayor’s criticism of the military strikes in Iran.
“I took out my rage in a tweet on Monday morning on the mayor,” Rosenberg said.
In the social media screed posted to X, Rosenberg asked President Donald Trump to stop supporting Mamdani, whom he called a “radical Islam cockroach” and a “Jihadist America hating mayor.”
“So, to the mayor and anybody else that I offended with my tweet on Monday, I send out a heartfelt apology,” he added.
The post was taken down after Mamdani’s emotional response on Tuesday drew more attention to Rosenberg’s words.
“To be called animals, insects, to be called a Jihadist mayor, to be called a cockroach, this language is both painfully familiar to me as a Muslim New Yorker but also as someone who was born in East Africa and it is difficult to hear,” the mayor said.
There were controversial comments made by a local radio host about Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Sid Rosenberg posted online calling Mamdani a “radical Islam cockroach.” The comment sparked backlash from advocacy groups and the police commissioner. NBC New York’s Melissa Russo reports.
“Not nice to call somebody a bug, I get it, but it had nothing to do with anybody’s religion or faith or anything,” Rosenberg’s comments continued.
Mamdani, when asked Wednesday if he accepted Rosenberg’s apology, said “time will tell how sincere of an apology it is.”
The mayor went on to say how grateful he was for the support of New Yorkers, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, who called the comments “hateful,” “racist” and “disgusting.”
WABC owner John Catsimatidis, Rosenberg’s boss, also denounced the comments: “Personal attacks on individuals are not acceptable on WABC.”
The Mayor continued to sidestep questions about a dinner Rosenberg recently said he had with Mamdani’s police commissioner Jessica Tisch — that dinner happening even after Rosenberg and Andrew Cuomo suggested in October that Mamdani would support a terror attack in the city
“God forbid another 9/11. Can you imagine Mamdani in the seat?” Cuomo said on Oct. 25.
“Yeah, yeah, I could. He, he, he’d be cheering,” Rosenberg replied.
The mayor and police commissioner shared what looked like a warm moment at a police ceremony Wednesday.
Regarding Rosenberg’s comments, she shared the following statement with News 4: “Those comments were wholly inappropriate and deeply harmful. I do not share those views in any way, and any rhetoric that seeks to dehumanize and disparage someone’s religion cannot be tolerated.”
WABC radio management declined to comment on calls in recent days to fire Rosenberg.