{"id":146953,"date":"2026-02-27T03:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T03:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/146953\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T03:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T03:00:11","slug":"taxi-ad-fighting-antisemitism-removed-for-taking-swipe-at-mamdanis-free-nyc-bus-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/146953\/","title":{"rendered":"Taxi ad fighting antisemitism removed for taking swipe at Mamdani’s free NYC bus plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taxi ads that declared \u201cNot gonna hide my Jewish star<\/a> for a free bus ride\u201d \u2014 in a dig at Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s free bus plan \u2014 have been suddenly taken down after The Post reported on them.<\/p>\n

Jamie Lowe, the executive vice president of the ad placement firm Somo, told reps from the group JewBelong that he removed their digital ad from atop yellow cabs after receiving complaints, according to a transcript of their video meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou saw the article that ran in the Post today, you can imagine that it created a buzz, which it did \u2026 But the ad that\u2019s running is obviously somewhat anti- the mayor of New York City,\u201d Lowe said during the Tuesday call.<\/p>\n

JewBelong, a group combating antisemitism, said its cheeky digital ad atop 4,0000 taxis saying, \u201cNot gonna hide my Jewish star for a free bus ride\u201d \u2014 a dig at Mayor Mamdani\u2019s free bus fare plan, has been taken down. Michael Appleton\/Mayoral Photography Office<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were complaints across the board this morning to us, to the New York City Taxi Commission, and I\u2019ll\u2026 I\u2019ll leave it at that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Lowe later clarified that he spoke to Ron Sherman, the head of Metropolitan Taxi Board of Trade representing 25% of the taxi industry \u2014 not the TLC now overseen by Mamdani \u2014 about the controversy.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust as the New York Post article said, it\u2019s the slap of Mandami. That\u2019s the challenge that we have,\u201d Lowe told JewBelong co-founder Stacy Stuart and PR rep Jenny McIntosh in the meeting.<\/p>\n

Reps for JewBelong, which aims to fight antisemitism, said it\u2019s the first time in five years of existence that one of its ads has been censored.<\/p>\n

During the conversation, Lowe admitted he didn\u2019t want to offend Mamdani and other powers to be at City Hall.<\/p>\n

\u201cI personally will be careful in running advertising that is somewhat, attacking City Hall or the mayor. So, I would say, yes, the political nature of the bus comment, and the mayor reference at this point in time is the challenge,\u201d Lowe said.<\/p>\n

He and another sales agent suggested JewBelong alter the content of the ad to remove the implied digof Mamdani\u2019s bus plan, but the group refused.<\/p>\n

The post was taken down after The Post reported on the issue. Helayne Seidman<\/p>\n

Lowe said his firm had the discretion under the contract with JewBelong to \u201creject or cancel any ad at any time without liability,\u201d according to the transcript of the meeting.<\/p>\n

JewBelong reps said Somo was censoring a campaign against antisemitism.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are Jewish voices being silenced in New York City at the very moment antisemitism is surging<\/a>? Our taxi campaign was created to garner attention and start a conversation about the compromises many Jews feel pressured to make about visibility and identity amid rising antisemitism,\u201d said JewBelong co-founder Archie Gottesman.<\/p>\n

\u201cPulling it sends a chilling message that speaking out against hate is acceptable, until it makes someone uncomfortable. We refuse to be silent.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Anti-Defamation League also condemned the shutdown of the ad campaign.<\/p>\n

Reps from JewBelong were in a video call with Somo executive vice president Jamie Lowe, told them he removed their ad after receiving several complaints. JewBelong<\/p>\n

\u201cIf acknowledging that Jewish New Yorkers sometimes feel compelled to hide visible symbols of their identity is considered controversial, that should alarm all of us,\u201d said ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuppressing awareness does not reduce antisemitism, especially at a time when we are seeing an alarming amount of antisemitic incidents,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Taxi and Limousine Commission said it played no role in the ad being removed from taxi rooftops.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not aware of any complaints to the TLC related to these ads and we certainly haven\u2019t asked for them to be removed,\u201d said TLC spokesman Jason Kersten.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe respect free speech, and for us to take any action the ads would have to violate our rules related to rooftop advertising, which these clearly don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The TLC rule states that the rooftop ad fixture provider \u201cmust not display advertising that is offensive to public morals\u201d or violate penal law.<\/p>\n

Lowe declined a request for further comment.<\/p>\n

Ron Sherman of the Metropolitan Taxi Board of Trade declined to comment.<\/p>\n

The ad controversy comes amid Mamdani\u2019s strained relations with segments of the Jewish community.<\/p>\n

Mamdani supports the boycott<\/a>, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel and accused the Jewish state of committing genocide in Gaza. <\/p>\n

He also said he would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a>, claiming he\u2019s a war criminal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Taxi ads that declared \u201cNot gonna hide my Jewish star for a free bus ride\u201d \u2014 in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9381,3862,61630,68,57,9,56,63,65,64,5259,5260,58,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-146953","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-anti-defamation-league","9":"tag-antisemitism","10":"tag-digital-advertisements","11":"tag-exclusive","12":"tag-metro","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-ny","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-nyc-headlines","17":"tag-nyc-news","18":"tag-taxi-and-limousine-commission","19":"tag-taxis","20":"tag-us-news","21":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}