During a Jimmy Kimmel Live!
appearance in Brooklyn on Monday night, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani declined the host’s request to text Donald Trump a live stage selfie.
Bringing Late-Night Back to the Brooklyn Academy of Music
The late-night talk show returned to New York City for an eighth week of residency at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, drawing massive crowds and more than 150,000 ticket requests. Host Jimmy Kimmel kicked off the Brooklyn run at the Howard Gilman Opera House with a star-studded lineup, welcoming comedian Pete Davidson and musical guests TV on the Radio, who celebrated the 20th anniversary of their album Return to Cookie Mountain.
Kimmel returned to the airwaves after a brief suspension by Disney that prompted then-mayoral candidate Mamdani to threaten to withdraw from an ABC town hall in protest of corporate management. Once Kimmel was reinstated, Mamdani’s campaign signaled a return to working with the network.
Managing an Unlikely Political Alliance With Donald Trump
When Mayor Mamdani took the stage to massive cheers, the conversation quickly turned to the most unexpected storyline of his administration: his cordial, working relationship with President Donald Trump. Kimmel played a montage of conservative pundits issuing dire pre-election warnings that the city would become lawless
and turn into hell on Earth,
noting that murders and shootings instead hit record lows in Mamdani’s first seven months in office.
Kimmel pressed the mayor on how he managed to forge a friendly rapport with the president, asking whether he went into office actively planning to charm him. Mamdani dismissed the idea with a laugh.
“The president and I have many disagreements. One thing we do agree on is this city, how much we love this city, so from that first meeting in November of last year, I was just thinking of ‘How we can make this meeting not about us, but about New Yorkers?’ How can we spend that time talking about the things that can make life in the city a little bit easier?’ And that’s what it’s been whether we’ve met at the White House at Gracie Mansion.”
Mamdani noted that his stone-faced posture standing beside Trump during a rambling press appearance at Gracie Mansion masked a singular focus: keeping negotiations on track.
The Stakes Behind the Text Messages
The mayor confirmed that he communicates with the president by text message from time to time, noting that Trump’s texts feature normal capitalization and punctuation unlike his social media posts. The primary objective driving those messages is federal approval for the Sunnyside Yard project in Queens, a proposed development designed to construct an estimated 12,000 new homes and generate approximately 30,000 jobs.
Beyond housing, Mamdani stressed that their discussions have also touched on the plight of Haitian New Yorkers, whose Protected Status has ended, leaving them in need of stability as part of the city’s fabric.
Why the Selfie Request Fell Flat
Seizing on the revelation of their texting relationship, Kimmel pulled out his phone and asked if the mayor would text Trump a live stage selfie.
“Jimmy, I love you, but I love housing more.”
The Rest of the Brooklyn Residency Lineup
Kimmel’s five-night residency at the Brooklyn Academy of Music continues through the week with a lineup featuring Howard Stern, Bruce Springsteen, Senator Bernie Sanders, John Oliver, and Seth Meyers, concluding with Sir Paul McCartney on Friday before the show returns to Los Angeles.
