New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted a controversial video about the January 2026 massive winter snowstorm (Image source: Wikimedia Commons)
New York City residents and social media users are livid with newly inaugurated Mayor Zohran Mamdani after he posted a controversial video about this weekend’s major snowstorm.
Mamdani posted a video to his official X account on Saturday, Jan. 24, as a severe winter storm had already begun hitting a significant portion of the United States. Dressed in a heavy green jacket, Mamdani quipped, “There’s snow doubt about it,” before explaining that New York City expected at least 8 to 9 inches of snow.
The video features Mamdani sharing how New York City Department of Sanitation trucks had already been converted into snow plows. As Mamdani walked viewers through the city’s plans, he asked New York City property owners to do their part by clearing snow and ice from sidewalks. Mamdani then said the city would decide Sunday whether Monday would be an online-only school day for public school students. New York City later confirmed that all classes would be held virtually on Monday.
The video then took a strange turn. An unnamed New York City worker walked into frame and remarked, “And to all our school kids, that means the next time you see the mayor, you can get him with a snowball.” Olivia Becker, who serves as Mamdani’s digital video producer, later identified the man as “Matthew” in an X post.
As hundreds of thousands of people across the country were losing power, Mamdani opted to continue with jokes, saying residents could “maybe grab a sled” when the snow stopped.
Unsurprisingly, X users tore into Mamdani for his comedy-driven approach to walking New York City through one of the worst winter storms in recent memory. Mamdani’s video had more than 3 million views as of Sunday afternoon, with much of the feedback being critical.
“You’re an actor,” one X user replied to Mamdani. “A one trick pony who does these cringe videos rather than govern or lead. Only the local version of the deep state (already happening) will spare NYC from the worst of the worst next four years.”
Another wrote, “How much did that puff piece jacket cost taxpayers? And this puff piece of a video, not even the trucks in action. I hope this year’s snowstorm topples your utopian thinking with the worst of the worst administration. Your videos are not even funny.”
Mamdani had not addressed the criticism as of publication.
“Zohran has a whole ministry of propaganda operating inside City Hall writing content and directing his daily comedy videos,” read one X post. “I’d rather have a serious mayor that links to press releases instead of this theater kid [expletive].”
As of Sunday afternoon, the United States Power Outage Map reported more than 1 million outages nationwide, with Tennessee having over 300,000 outages at publication. Mississippi and Louisiana each had more than 140,000 outages, while Georgia had around 100,000.
The outage map estimated that nearly 1,700 New Yorkers statewide were without power as of publication. A significant portion came from Brooklyn, which had more than 600 reported outages as of Sunday afternoon.
One user wrote: “You are addicted to the cameras, that’s how you know it is about you and no one else. How much tax dollars went to these videos?”
