{"id":5843,"date":"2026-07-31T22:36:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T22:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=5843"},"modified":"2026-07-31T22:36:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T22:36:26","slug":"exclusive-fuming-mamdani-blocked-from-speaking-at-fallen-nyc-soldiers-funeral-despite-writing-speech-he-was-never-called","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=5843","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive | Fuming Mamdani blocked from speaking at fallen NYC soldier’s funeral despite writing speech: ‘He was never called’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

They gave him the Zo-ld shoulder.<\/p>\n

Mayor Zohran Mamdani was snubbed from eulogizing Army Sgt. Angel Sarah Rampersad at the fallen soldier\u2019s Queens funeral Friday \u2014 and the embarrassing scene unfolded in real time as he fumed while waiting in vain to give his speech, sources revealed.<\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey kept calling names and then he was never called,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen he looked over at his staff, frustrated and seemed angry that he didn\u2019t speak. When he realized his name wasn\u2019t being called, he looked at his staff angrily and then eventually put his tablet away.\u201d<\/p>\n

City Hall ignored multiple requests for comment over the humiliating turn of events.<\/p>\n

The diss came as Mamdani \u2014 an avowed democratic socialist who\u2019s harshly critical of Israel and the US war against Iran \u2014 remains a divisive political figure both within New York City and across the nation.<\/p>\n

Another source involved with the funeral\u2019s planning said Rampersad\u2019s family is pro-President Trump and didn\u2019t want Mamdani to speak.<\/p>\n

Yet another insider confirmed that Mamdani\u2019s outspoken lefty politics ultimately led him to lose his customary mayoral role as a speaker during a hometown soldier\u2019s funeral.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe family is more conservative and wanted to limit any political distractions,\u201d the insider said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear whether the young mayor visited Rampersad\u2019s kin in the days following her death as is customary for Big Apple leaders to do. Nothing about a visit prior to Friday\u2019s funeral appeared on his official public schedule or his indefatigable social media accounts.<\/p>\n

Hizzoner did, however, fill his past week \u201csiteseeing\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Mamdani \u2014 who in recent days has been slammed for ignoring everyday New Yorker\u2019s problems, including the seven residents who\u2019ve died from Legionnaire\u2019s disease \u2014 also found time to tout his far-off city-run grocery stores, even fundraising off the efforts. <\/p>\n

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In lieu of actually speaking at Rampersad\u2019s funeral, Mamdani\u2019s press team blasted out his planned speech, identifying it as \u201cremarks as prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is often said that our fallen \u2018gave their tomorrows for our today,’\u201d Mamdani planned to say. \u201cSergeant 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 \u2014 so that we could stand here today, safe and protected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hundreds of family members, neighbors, fellow soldiers and even strangers attended Rampersad\u2019s funeral in Calvary Assembly of God, where they brushed away tears as the fallen hero\u2019s favorite gospel songs loudly echoed through the halls of the pristine church.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe could talk to people in her rank, above her rank, and they would accept it since it was the way she did it,\u201d Daisy Davis-Credle, president of the Queens Sunday School Association, said after the funeral.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not what you do, it\u2019s how you do what you do. And she knew how to do that \u2014 they listened to her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hochul gave remarks during the service, followed by Ozone Park Residents Block Association President Sam Esposito, state Sen. Joseph Addabbo Jr. (D-Queens) and Richards. <\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI feel after reading and admiring this woman from a distance, I feel like she could be one of my daughters,\u201d said Hochul.<\/p>\n

Mamdani, whose less-than-prime seat was near first-term City Councilman Frank Morano (R-Staten Island), fumed in silence after his snub became apparent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was surprised the mayor didn\u2019t speak,\u201d said Morano, who is far from a Mamdani ally. \u201cI didn\u2019t understand why they would have lower-level officials speak and not the mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the sendoff, NYPD cops carried Rampersad\u2019s coffin from the church and into a hearse, which joined a blocks-long police procession to her eventual resting place in Long Island.<\/p>\n

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Mamdani was spotted reviewing his planned speech on iPad, before angrily shooting daggers at his staff when it became clear he wouldn’t be called to speak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-metro"],"yoast_head":"\nExclusive | Fuming Mamdani blocked from speaking at fallen NYC soldier's funeral despite writing speech: 'He was never called' - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=5843\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Exclusive | Fuming Mamdani blocked from speaking at fallen NYC soldier's funeral despite writing speech: 'He was never called' - 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