Politics
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani Corrects Whoopi Goldberg After She Mispronounces His Name on ‘The View’
Whoopi Goldberg needed to practice her pronunciation before going live on the Tuesday, January 20, episode of The View.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani returned as a guest on the popular daytime television program, but the 70-year-old cohost couldn’t seem to say his name right during his introduction.
After returning from commercial break during Mamdani’s wide-ranging interview, Goldberg said, “We’re back with the New York City mayor, Zor-han Mamdani,” incorrectly pronouncing his first name.
However, Mamdani, 34, didn’t let it slide this time around. “One day, we’re gonna get it,” he said jokingly.
“Listen, Z, I’m trying,” the Sister Act star replied, adding that she was going to refer to him as “Mayor Z” moving forward.
Partially blaming the teleprompter, Goldberg added, “I’m dyslexic, so it doesn’t look like what I’m seeing.”
During the mayor’s appearance, the democratic socialist — who became the first Muslim and South Asian mayor of NYC — said his first weeks on the job have been “incredible.”
“This is the dream of a lifetime,” he said. “We’ve always wanted to build a city government that moves as fast as New Yorkers do. You know, when a New Yorker is trying to walk somewhere, you don’t get in their way. City government hasn’t felt like that in a long time, so we’ve wanted to say that there’s not going to be any problem too big or too small for us to address.”
He also spoke about his meeting with President Donald Trump and offered his thoughts on the ICE incident in Minneapolis, during which Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed.
During Mamdani’s election campaign, he corrected former governor Andrew Cuomo on the pronunciation of his name, saying, “Furthermore, the name is Mamdani: M-A-M-D-A-N-I. You should learn how to say it because we got to get it right.”
The sound went viral on TikTok after being mixed with Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl” in place of the lyrics: “This s**t is bananas: B-A-N-A-N-A-S.”
