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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani shut down Jimmy Kimmel’s request to send Donald Trump a selfie while appearing on the host’s late night show Monday.
During his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Mamdani was probed about his relationship with Trump. The New York City mayor and president met last week behind closed doors and then addressed reporters outside Mamdani’s residence at Gracie Mansion, where Trump heaped praise on the mayor.
Kimmel called Mamdani and Trump’s relationship “very unexpected,” adding that it “seems to be a very friendly relationship.” He then asked: “Did you guys hit it off immediately or is it something that you really went into thinking, ‘OK, I need to have a relationship with the president of the United States, and I think the best way to do it is to charm him.’ How did you do that, and can you help me?”
Mamdani replied: “Sorry, brother. 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.”
Kimmel probed further, asking Mamdani whether he and Trump texted each other.
“From time to time we’re in communication, and it’s about Sunnyside Yard, and it’s about how we can deliver for the city,” Mamdani responded, adding details of his discussion with Trump about aiding Haitian New Yorkers.
Kimmel then asked Mamdani if he could text Trump “a selfie of us right now.” But Mamdani was quick to shut the late night host down, saying, “Jimmy, I love you, but I love housing more.”
Mamdani’s denial comes after Trump showered Mamdani with praise in front of reporters last week. “I have seen some great ones and some not so great ones. So hopefully, you’re going to be a great one,” Trump said to the democratic socialist mayor. “I’ll be able to say you’re going to be a great one, and you’re off to a start.”
Kimmel’s relationship with Trump, on the other hand, is not nearly as cordial.
Earlier this year, Trump demanded to know when ABC was planning to fire Kimmel after the comedian made a joke suggesting that the First Lady had the glow of an “expectant widow.” Days after the sketch aired, a gunman attempted to storm Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner where both Trump and Melania were present.
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In light of the incident, Kimmel’s joke resurfaced on social media and was vehemently condemned by Trump’s supporters and Melania herself.
Kimmel later defended the joke as a light roast about the couple’s age difference and “not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination.”