New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani apologized to the New York City Police Department (NYPD) on Wednesday for his past criticism of the police force, in which he previously called them “racist,” “wicked” and “corrupt.”
“Absolutely, I’ll apologize to police officers right here, because this is the apology that I’ve been sharing with many rank-and-file officers,” Mamdani told Fox News’s Martha MacCallum when asked if he would issue a public apology to them.
“And I apologize because of the fact that I’m looking to work with these officers. And I know that these officers, these men and women who serve in the NYPD, they put their lives on the line every single day,” he added.
Mamdani’s stance on public safety and police support has been a focal point during the New York City mayoral election.
Following the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis — with public outrage over the event prompting waves of protesting over criminal justice and racial inequality in 2020 — Mamdani wrote several posts on the social platform X calling to defund the New York City Police Department and criticizing it.
