{"id":32635,"date":"2025-11-08T00:27:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T00:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/32635\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T00:27:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T00:27:13","slug":"top-nyc-realtor-fired-for-comparing-zohran-mamdani-to-hitler-predicting-city-hall-will-play-muslim-calls-to-prayer-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/32635\/","title":{"rendered":"Top NYC realtor fired for comparing Zohran Mamdani to Hitler, predicting City Hall will play Muslim calls to prayer: report"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the city\u2019s top office leasing brokers was reportedly fired for comparing socialist, Muslim Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani to Adolf Hitler and complaining about the prospect of hearing Islamic prayers coming from City Hall.<\/p>\n

JLL Real Estate Services axed Scott Panzer after he emailed the outrageous comments to coworkers on Wednesday, according to the Real Deal.<\/a><\/p>\n

Earlier that day, Peter Riguardi, president of JLL\u2019s New York office, sent an email urging his employees to \u201cgive [the new mayor] a chance to lead\u201d and work together in the spirit of unity, the real estate news site reported.<\/p>\n

Scott Panzer (second from left) was terminated by commercial real estate brokerage firm JLL, according to a report. Patrick McMullan via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Panzer hit reply-all, writing: \u201cIs it just me, or does this sound eerily similar to what much of Germany and Europe said about you know who back in 1938?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hitler was the notorious dictator of Germany at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know how that worked out for them \u2014 and for the world,\u201d Panzer wrote.<\/p>\n

Writing, \u201cI will just throw one more provocative comment out here,\u201d the realtor went on to recount a holiday he took in Istanbul. He said he didn\u2019t mind hearing the Muslim call to prayer five times per day there, but \u201cwould not want that to be a 365 day event.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut alas, this too is just around the corner for NYC,\u201d Panzer predicted.<\/p>\n

According to people familiar with the incident, Riguardi\u2019s note was meant to calm tensions in JLL\u2019s New York office after Mamdani\u2019s Tuesday win<\/a> angered conservative business leaders.<\/p>\n

Instead, Panzer\u2019s response quickly circulated internally, drawing complaints from staff who viewed his remarks as Islamophobic.<\/p>\n

Panzer was fired within hours of sending the missive.<\/p>\n

Panzer reportedly compared Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani to Adolf Hitler and complained about hearing Islamic prayers at City Hall. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can confirm Scott Panzer is no longer with JLL,\u201d a company spokesperson told The Post. \u201cThe views and sentiment expressed in his email do not align with our company\u2019s culture and shared values.\u201d<\/p>\n

Panzer did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Riguardi reportedly sought to strike an equanimous tone in his initial email to hundreds of employees, one of whom described the message as a call for cooperation with Mamdani\u2019s incoming administration.<\/p>\n

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\u201c[Mamdani] is our mayor,\u201d Riguardi wrote. \u201cThe only good thing we can do right now is give him a chance to lead and maybe for those of us who doubt him, he will surprise us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The exec was reportedly angered by Panzer\u2019s response.<\/p>\n

Panzer\u2019s termination marked a swift downfall for one of Manhattan\u2019s most visible dealmakers. The broker, who previously handled leasing for Sheldon Solow\u2019s 9 W. 57th St. skyscraper and represented major tenants across Midtown, was with JLL for more than 16 years.<\/p>\n

Mamdani has proposed a freeze on rent as well as free buses. REUTERS<\/p>\n

The controversy erupted as New York\u2019s real estate industry adjusted to Mamdani\u2019s surprise victory.<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old democratic socialist and state assemblyman originally from Uganda campaigned on a platform of rent freezes, public housing expansion and transit subsidies.<\/p>\n

In his Tuesday night victory speech, Mamdani pledged to \u201cbuild a city for the many, not the few,\u201d signaling a more confrontational stance toward landlords and developers.<\/p>\n

The Post has sought comment from Mamdani.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the city\u2019s top office leasing brokers was reportedly fired for comparing socialist, Muslim Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4392,288,1489,1092,9,56,63,65,1093,563,64,82],"class_list":["post-32635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-adolf-hitler","tag-business","tag-commercial-real-estate","tag-mayor","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-mayoral-election","tag-nyc-mayoral-election-2025","tag-nyc-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32635","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=32635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}