Mamdani Apparently Snubbed In Awkward Scene After Not Being Called To Give Speech At Fallen Soldier’s Funeral
Democratic New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani attended the funeral of a fallen Army sergeant with a prepared eulogy but was never called to speak, the New York Post reported Friday.
Mamdani sat in the fourth row at the service for Army Sgt. Angel Sarah Rampersad at Calvary Assembly of God church in the Ozone Park section of Queens and reviewed his planned remarks on an iPad, sources told the Post. Gov. Kathy Hochul, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards and other officials took turns at the microphone, but the mayor’s name never came up.
“They kept calling names and then he was never called,” a source who attended told the Post. The same source said Mamdani looked toward his staff and put the tablet away after his name went uncalled. (RELATED: Rahm Emanuel Says He Confronted Mamdani To His Face. Top Staffer Hits Back)
Sources involved in planning the funeral told the Post the decision tied to the family’s politics. One insider said Rampersad’s relatives back President Donald Trump and preferred to keep the ceremony free of political friction. A democratic socialist who has criticized Israel and the U.S. campaign against Iran, Mamdani remains a divisive figure within New York City and across the country, the Post reported.
City Hall did not answer repeated requests for comment, the Post reported. Afterward, Mamdani’s press team circulated the eulogy he never delivered, labeling it as prepared. “Sergeant Rampersad had tomorrows waiting for her: birthdays, ordinary mornings, evenings spent with her loved ones,” the text read. “But she gave every one of them up so that we could have ours — so that we could stand here today, safe and protected.”
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City Councilman Frank Morano, a Staten Island Republican seated near Mamdani, told the Post he was surprised lower-ranking figures spoke while the mayor did not.
Rampersad, 28, grew up in Ozone Park, graduated from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and enlisted in the Army, following her uncle, the Post reported. She was one of three service members killed July 17 when Iranian missiles and drones struck Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, according to Fox News, which cited the Department of War. The other two were 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Hawaii, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Texas.
Hochul, a Democrat, honored the sergeant during the service. “I feel after reading and admiring this woman from a distance, I feel like she could be one of my daughters,” she said, according to the Post.
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