Children's YouTube star Ms. Rachel rushed to defend Mayor Zohran Mamdani on the eve of the 9/11 twenty-fifth anniversary, even as more than 100,000 people signed a petition led by victims' families demanding he skip the ceremony.
Rachel Accurso, the children's influencer known to millions of toddlers and parents as Ms. Rachel, posted a written statement on Instagram praising Mamdani as "awesome" and "a kind, gentle soul" who "truly cares about New Yorkers." The post landed just hours before Mamdani was set to appear at Ground Zero for the memorial marking a quarter-century since the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil, an appearance that families of the dead had fought to prevent.
Mamdani showed up anyway. The Washington Examiner reported that the mayor attended the ceremony at the World Trade Center and was seen shaking hands with former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the same Giuliani who had said earlier that week that Mamdani's presence would "offend him."
The handshake did not settle the anger. Walter Matuza, whose father died on September 11, 2001, told Fox News plainly: "He showed up anyway. It does bother us." A former New Jersey police officer identified only as Mike added: "Based on the rhetoric that he's used in the past. Yeah, he probably should have skipped it."
The petition, hosted on Change.org and led by family members of people killed on September 11, had gathered more than 110,000 signatures by the time of the ceremony. It laid out a detailed case for why Mamdani's presence at Ground Zero was an affront to the dead and their survivors.
Among the petition's claims: Mamdani has praised Brooklyn Imam Siraj Wahhaj, who was named as an alleged co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and served as a character witness for the convicted terrorist known as the "Blind Sheikh." The Sheikh was found guilty in 1995 of plotting terror attacks against the United States. The petition from 9/11 families drew national attention and bipartisan interest.
The petition also noted that Mamdani endorsed Aber Kawas, a candidate who described the September 11 attacks as something "a couple of people did in the context of US capitalism, racism, White supremacy, and Islamophobia." Kawas also expressed sympathy for Ahmed Ferhani, who pleaded guilty to plotting to blow up a Manhattan synagogue.
Then there is Mamdani's chief counsel, Ramzi Kassem. Fox News Digital reported that Mamdani handed Kassem a ceremonial pen from a 9/11 remembrance ceremony, a gesture that drew its own firestorm. Kassem previously represented Ahmed al-Darbi, who pleaded guilty to war crime charges tied to al Qaeda plots against commercial ships. Al-Darbi is the brother-in-law of Khalid al-Mihdhar, one of the hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon and killed 184 people.
The decision to give that pen to a lawyer who once defended an al Qaeda operative connected by marriage to one of the hijackers was a scandal in its own right.
Ms. Rachel's defense of Mamdani framed the opposition to him as religious bigotry. In the caption of her Instagram post, she wrote: "Also so disappointing to see some Christians expressing hate and Islamophobia. Jesus was Jewish, and he taught us in the Good Samaritan parable that our neighbors are not just those who share our religion."
She added in the body of the post:
"It's unacceptable that adults still judge, hate and attack each other because of religion and skin color. We should be setting a better example for our children."
But the objections to Mamdani's presence at Ground Zero have never been about his religion. They center on his record, a record that extends well beyond the petition's allegations.
National Review documented that Mamdani posted virtually identical September 11 anniversary messages year after year from 2021 through 2024, each one pivoting from the nearly 3,000 people killed in the attacks to "the hundreds of thousands who died in the wars that followed." His 2021 tweet read: "Nearly 3,000 New Yorkers died on 9/11; 20 years later, the death hasn't stopped. We mourn our neighbors who died that day. The hundreds of thousands who died in the wars that followed." Critics say the messages treat the attacks as something to be deflected rather than mourned on their own terms. Mamdani shifted his tone only when he began running for mayor.
He is also associated with activist Hasan Piker, who once said the United States "deserved" the September 11 attacks. Piker walked those remarks back at the time. Mamdani has since condemned the comment, but the association remains part of the public record that 9/11 families point to.
And the pattern goes further. The Washington Free Beacon reported that Mamdani told New York City business leaders he stands by "the idea" behind the phrase "globalize the intifada", even while claiming he would discourage protesters from using the slogan. Major Wall Street CEOs, including Jamie Dimon, Steve Schwarzman, Larry Fink, and David Solomon, boycotted the meeting. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum condemned Mamdani's attempt to "sanitize" the phrase, stating: "Since 1987 Jews have been attacked and murdered under its banner."
Mamdani also drew backlash for publicly mourning a Rikers Island inmate charged in a meat-cleaver killing, another episode that raised questions about whose side the mayor is on.
Ms. Rachel's post did not address any of these specifics. It did not mention the petition, the 110,000 signatures, the families of the dead, the ceremonial pen, Ramzi Kassem, Siraj Wahhaj, Aber Kawas, or the "globalize the intifada" remarks. It offered a character reference, "I've met him", and recast the entire controversy as a failure of tolerance.
Her statement referenced the New York City Pre-K curriculum, saying it "teaches children to be kind, respect different religions and cultures, and be proud of who they are." She did not explain her connection to the curriculum or clarify whether she holds any official role with the city.
The post fits a broader pattern. Mamdani's administration has faced scrutiny over a secret Signal network through which progressive influencers coordinated messaging with City Hall talking points. Whether Ms. Rachel's post was part of any organized effort is unknown, but it arrived at a politically convenient moment.
Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani's office for comment and did not receive an immediate response.
Accurso has an audience of millions of small children and their parents. Her word carries weight in households across the country. When she tells those parents that opposition to Mamdani amounts to religious hatred, she is asking them to look past a factual record that includes praise for a figure linked to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, endorsement of a candidate who minimized the September 11 attacks, appointment of a chief counsel who defended an al Qaeda operative's relative, and public support for a phrase the Holocaust Memorial Museum says has accompanied the murder of Jews for nearly four decades.
None of that is about religion or skin color. All of it is about conduct, judgment, and associations, exactly the things voters and grieving families have every right to weigh.
Calling a politician a "gentle soul" costs nothing. Answering the families who lost someone on September 11 would cost a great deal more, which is probably why neither Mamdani nor his defenders have tried.