They gave him the Zo-ld shoulder.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani was snubbed from eulogizing Army Sgt. Angel Sarah Rampersad at the fallen soldier’s Queens funeral Friday — and the embarrassing scene unfolded in real time as he fumed while waiting in vain to give his speech, sources revealed.
Mamdani, who was relegated to the fourth row in the Ozone Park church, appeared to be reviewing his planned remarks on an iPad while Gov. Kathy Hochul and other dignitaries, including Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, were called to speak, a source in attendance said.
“They kept calling names and then he was never called,” the source said.
“Then he looked over at his staff, frustrated and seemed angry that he didn’t speak. When he realized his name wasn’t being called, he looked at his staff angrily and then eventually put his tablet away.”
Calvary Assembly of God
City Hall ignored multiple requests for comment over the humiliating turn of events.
The diss came as Mamdani — an avowed democratic socialist who’s harshly critical of Israel and the US war against Iran — remains a divisive political figure both within New York City and across the nation.
Another source involved with the funeral’s planning said Rampersad’s family is pro-President Trump and didn’t want Mamdani to speak.
Yet another insider confirmed that Mamdani’s outspoken lefty politics ultimately led him to lose his customary mayoral role as a speaker during a hometown soldier’s funeral.
“The family is more conservative and wanted to limit any political distractions,” the insider said.
Rampersad, 28, was among three US soldiers killed July 17 during an Iranian missile attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. Rampersad grew up in an Ozone Park family, graduated from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and joined the Army, following in the footsteps of her uncle.
It’s unclear whether the young mayor visited Rampersad’s kin in the days following her death as is customary for Big Apple leaders to do. Nothing about a visit prior to Friday’s funeral appeared on his official public schedule or his indefatigable social media accounts.
Hizzoner did, however, fill his past week “siteseeing” in double-decker bus as part of a housing press stunt and sat for a few interviews with national publications in an attempt to further raise his public profile.
Mamdani — who in recent days has been slammed for ignoring everyday New Yorker’s problems, including the seven residents who’ve died from Legionnaire’s disease — also found time to tout his far-off city-run grocery stores, even fundraising off the efforts.
In lieu of actually speaking at Rampersad’s funeral, Mamdani’s press team blasted out his planned speech, identifying it as “remarks as prepared.”
“It is often said that our fallen ‘gave their tomorrows for our today,’” Mamdani planned to say. “Sergeant Rampersad had tomorrows waiting for her: birthdays, ordinary mornings, evenings spent with her loved ones. But she gave every one of them up so that we could have ours — so that we could stand here today, safe and protected.”
Hundreds of family members, neighbors, fellow soldiers and even strangers attended Rampersad’s funeral in Calvary Assembly of God, where they brushed away tears as the fallen hero’s favorite gospel songs loudly echoed through the halls of the pristine church.
“She could talk to people in her rank, above her rank, and they would accept it since it was the way she did it,” Daisy Davis-Credle, president of the Queens Sunday School Association, said after the funeral.
“It’s not what you do, it’s how you do what you do. And she knew how to do that — they listened to her.”
Source : https://nypost.com/2026/07/31/us-news/mamdani-blocked-from-speaking-at-fallen-nyc-soldiers-funeral/
