New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has maintained a squeaky clean image ever since exploding into politics. But Black Americans are now expressing their disappointment big time in him and his wife, Rama Duwaji, after a series of controversial social posts landed the first lady in the hot seat… And trust us, it’s not pretty.
Suggested Reading
Many Black folks have been rooting for the couple since Mamdani’s viral mayoral campaign reached historic heights last year. Standing right next to him at every turn was his wife, a stylish, 28-year-old illustrator born to Syrian parents. While Duwaji’s fashion and artistic style quickly landed her a soft spot in many Black folks’ hearts, nothing could’ve prepared the community for the fallout from her alleged resurfaced tweets and Tumblr posts– one in particular even including the N-word.
Earlier this month, Duwaji deleted the old X account after the Washington Free Beacon uncovered problematic posts circa 2013 to 2015 of her criticizing the U.S. military and dropping racial slurs.
“Helllll yeah, n****. Super duper genius* excuse you,” the account once tied to Duwaji– under username @_RamaDee– reportedly wrote back in Feb. 2013. At the time, she was only 15 years old. Still, that didn’t stop Black folks from ripping into her for using the racial slur.
“Rama Duwaji — the wife of Zohran Mamdani doesn’t get to say the word N***A,” @WonderKing82 wrote on X.
Expectedly so, Black folks were left stunned and outraged after throwing their support to Mamdani and his wife. To many, her posts felt like a slap in the face. And following other instances of minority groups using slurs against Black people– namely, the 2026 Oscars’ N-word scandal– Duwaji’s posts were just as horrific.
“Black people get a lot of flak for being for very distrusting of other races– more particularly people of color,” TikTok user @khairotiara, who grew up in New York City, began. “There will be so much solidarity across the POC community so much so that they are united in their racism.”
While the user stopped short of declaring Duwaji a full-blown racist, she said it’s moments like these that she and other Black Americans are reminded of a lack of consideration from outside communities.
Like most husbands, Mamdani came out earlier this month to defend his wife saying, “My wife is the love of my life, and she’s also a private person who has held no formal position on my campaign or in my City Hall,” he told reporters, “I, however, was elected to represent all 8.5 million people in the city. And I believe that it’s my responsibility because of that role to answer questions about my thoughts and my politics, and my stances.”
What Mamdani failed to acknowledge was the potential damage Duwaji’s posts had on several communities, including Black folks. We’re now weeks removed from when the bombshell posts resurfaced, and Black Americans are still not over it.
“I’m absolutely shocked that Zohran Mamdani’s wife was having slurs in her Twitter when she was 15. But the excuse that she was 15 and was a kid? I’m sorry, I didn’t have slurs on my Twitter when I was 15,” @yusi_vlogs said. “That’s not normal, and that’s a horrible excuse.”
This is not the first time Mamdani’s wife has faced harsh criticism from previous online posts. Most notably, she was caught liking several posts related to the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack against Israel. With yet another social media blunder, it’s unclear if Duwaji has anything more to be uncovered.
Straight From 
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.