New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a partnership to give two thousand free Broadway tickets to high school students across the five boroughs. He posted the news on August 13 and in follow-up clips, including a Mandarin video and a Bengali version, Zohran Mamdani reiterated the Broadway tickets plan.After online speculation suggested AI involvement, spokesperson Joe Calvello said, “this is NOT AI.” On August 16, a spokeswoman told The New York Times he has not seriously studied Mandarin since Bronx High School of Science.State Senator John Liu, fluent in Mandarin, graded the pronunciation a solid B and “A+ for effort.” Past campaign clips showed Arabic, Hindi, and Urdu use; Al Jazeera in July 2025 cited experts on the strategy.
