Actor Debra Messing is facing widespread criticism after a series of social media posts attacking New York City’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, drew accusations of Islamophobia.
Mamdani, a 33-year-old progressive Democrat, won Tuesday’s mayoral election with 50.4 percent of the vote, according to CBS News. Independent candidate Andrew Cuomo came in second with 41.6 percent, while Republican Curtis Sliwa received about seven percent.
Messing, best known for her role on Will & Grace, publicly backed Cuomo ahead of the election, writing on Instagram that New York City “is too massive, complex, and consequential to have someone 33 years old who has never held a job and missed 80% of his votes as Councilman.”
But after Mamdani’s victory, Messing’s social media activity escalated. She reposted multiple graphics and videos disparaging the new mayor, including one reading “A vote for Sliwa is a vote for Mamdani is a vote for New-York-Stan.” Another post described Mamdani as “a literal Karl Marx-quoting, America-hating jihadist,” and a video she shared referred to him as “Osama bin Mamdani.”
“The Debra Messing meltdown is in full swing. An embarrassing loser,” one user wrote on X. Another said, “I punished myself by looking at Debra Messing’s Instagram and she has like 20 stories that are just Islamophobia.” A third commenter added, “Debra Messing is just straight up sharing Donald Trump’s own posts now.”
Neither Messing nor Mamdani’s representatives responded to requests for comment.
These posts are a sharp turn for Messing, who for years positioned herself as one of Hollywood’s most outspoken liberal voices and a frequent critic of Donald Trump. In 2019, she compared Trump to Adolf Hitler in a post urging political resistance. Trump himself later remarked on Messing in Ramin Setoodeh’s 2024 book Apprentice in Wonderland, calling her “beautiful” and admitting he “had a crush” on her.
Mamdani, the son of Ugandan-Indian immigrants, rose to prominence as a state assemblyman from Queens known for his progressive politics and advocacy for tenants’ rights and public housing. His election as New York’s first Muslim mayor was celebrated by supporters as a milestone for representation in city politics.
