Overview
- Zohran Mamdani, 34, was ceremonially sworn in as New York City’s 112th mayor shortly after midnight on January 1, and a short clip from his remarks went viral.
- Pro-Trump and other conservative accounts on X alleged his brief right-arm extension resembled a Nazi salute and drew comparisons to a 2025 gesture by Elon Musk.
- Commentators including Jeffery Mead and meme pages such as Libs of TikTok and Planet Of Memes framed the episode as proof of mainstream media double standards.
- Supporters, independent observers and multiple news reports described the motion as a commonplace emphasis gesture, with no evidence of extremist intent; X’s AI assistant Grok offered a similar assessment.
- As of January 2, Mamdani had not publicly responded to the accusations.