New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani sounds notably different in a resurfaced video from 2016—and the internet has thoughts.
In the clip, a 24-year-old Mamdani is being interviewed about the 2016 film Queen of Katwe. The Disney movie, which tells the true story of Ugandan chess champion Phiona Mutesi, was directed by Mamdani’s mother, Mira Nair, and Mamdani, now 34, served as music supervisor and assistant director on the film and also made a small cameo. His original song “#1Spice,” which he recorded under the rap alias Young Cardamom, also appears in the film. (In the interview, he jokes that “nepotism and hard work [go] a long way.”)
Mamdani speaks with a noticeable accent in the clip—one that he does not have today. Many online, especially conservatives, have slammed the mayor in response, accusing him of faking the speech pattern.
“UNEARTHED: Zohran Mamdani does an obviously fake Ugandan accent while promoting a Disney movie based in Africa. How many Democrats have been caught using fake accents at this point? They’re all frauds,” wrote The Benny Show host Benny Johnson on X, according to Fox News.
“Anyone else notice Mamdani’s accent change? He must’ve studied at Obama University,” wrote another X user, Tara Bull.
Others online, however, pointed out that many people with multicultural backgrounds engage in “code switching,” which is defined by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary as “changing one’s speech, behavior, etc. to suit different social or cultural contexts.” Mamdani was born in Uganda to Indian parents and also lived in Cape Town, South Africa, before moving to New York City at age seven. The interview was with a South African radio station.
“Code switching is a thing! My family is Indian but I grew up in the US. When I’m not with my family, I have a standard American accent. When I’m with my family, I have an Indian accent. Can’t help it,” wrote one Reddit user.
Another speculated that he consciously adopted more of a neutral American accent when he decided to go into politics, writing, “He probably thought if he wanted to do well in politics he had to drop the accent. So unfortunate if that’s true.”
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