Pete Davidson questioned Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s affiliation with his beloved hometown of Staten Island.
Davidson — a loud and proud local — wondered if the mayor had any connection to the borough during a recent sit-down with Variety.
“Zohran Mamdani … is he Staten Island? I don’t know,” Davidson said. “I don’t think he’s from Staten Island.”
The “Saturday Night Live” comedian debated if Mamdani had “Staten Island’s heart,” before admitting, “I don’t think he’s Staten Island.”
He added, “I don’t have a problem with the guy, but I definitely don’t think he’s Staten Island at all. Staten Island’s the only red place in New York, and it’s violently red.”
Davidson, 32, explained, “You know, most of my family is, you know, on the red side. It’s not that, like, storm the capital vibe. It’s more just like, ‘[Trump is] funny. Like, I don’t care. I just need something different.’”
He continued, “Like, it’s not like a racist, misogynistic sort of thing, it’s just like … it’s 1985 over there. You are not a real Staten Island politician unless you have a secret family and know one mobster.”
“I would not trust you to run Staten Island,” he added.
Last week, Davidson pleaded with the New York City mayor to make a few improvements around his neck of the woods during an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
When Kimmel noted that Mamdani was his next guest, the talk show host asked if the “King of Staten Island” star had any questions for the mayor.
“Yes, could he fix the “f—ing BQE, please?” Davidson said in a clip shared on the show’s Instagram page.
The BQE, short for the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, is a major New York City highway that runs through Brooklyn and Queens and has long been criticized for traffic congestionand aging infrastructure.
Davidson’s request was immediately met with cheers and thunderous applause from the studio audience.
“You hit on something,” Kimmel said.
“Look at that,” Davidson said, gesturing toward the crowd before Kimmel noted, “That’s the loudest response I’ve ever gotten.”
“The BQE has been under construction since before I was born. And here’s my problem with it,” Davidson said. “They’re never doing anything. Someone’s just standing there eating a sandwich or on the phone, and there’s all these cones around.”
He added, “So I don’t know what mob front or whatever, who’s getting money from whatever, but just fix it, please.”
At the end of Mamdani’s appearance on the show, Kimmel presented the mayor with Davidson’s question as promised.
“Pete Davidson wants to know what’s going on in the BQE,” Kimmel said. “He says he drives by it and he sees nobody doing anything. He said it’s been like since before he was born.”
Mamdani responded by highlighting his office’s BQE Central Project, a $4 billion plan to rehabilitate the city-owned section of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway between Atlantic Avenue and Sands Street, with construction expected to begin in 2030.
“We’re going to be putting a multibillion-dollar plan to actually repair the part the city owns,” Mamdani said.
“Which is the part that is currently the most at risk and that’s going to be proceeding over the next 10 years. Full safety. No diversion of traffic into local neighborhoods and actually bring it back.”
“So you’re saying Pete’s daughter will also be complaining about this,” Kimmel joked as Mamdani and the audience laughed.
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