Bill Maher took aim at New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani during the opening monologue on Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” criticizing the mayor’s response to the three year anniversary of the October 7 attack.

Maher argued that Mamdani was “not all that sympathetic to” the anniversary. He said the mayor initially offered what Maher described as appropriate remarks before shifting attention toward Israel’s conduct.

The host introduced the subject while discussing New York and the problems facing the city. His comments quickly moved from the anniversary itself to the way he believed Mamdani had addressed it.

Maher said, “New York, also, they have problems, too. It was the third anniversary of the horrible attack in Israel on October 7, three years ago, and Mayor Mamdani, not all that sympathetic to this stuff, but he did make some nice remarks about it; he’s against it, but then he pivoted right to, but Israel made them do it.”

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That account presented Mamdani’s response as divided between condemning the attack and redirecting the discussion toward Israel. Maher emphasized that shift as the central problem with the mayor’s anniversary statement.

In Maher’s telling, Mamdani did acknowledge the horror of the attack and made what the host called “some nice remarks about it.” Maher also said the mayor was against what occurred.

But those acknowledgments did not soften Maher’s criticism. He portrayed the subsequent pivot as a jarring change that undercut the sympathy expressed at the beginning of the statement.

Maher reduced his characterization of that pivot to the phrase “Israel made them do it.” The wording came from Maher’s description of Mamdani’s message rather than from a separately presented quotation of the mayor’s anniversary statement.

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The criticism carried a distinctly mocking edge, which Maher sharpened with a joke about Mamdani’s past as a rapper. Rather than leave the disagreement at the level of political commentary, the host turned it into a punchline about the mayor’s public instincts.

Maher joked, “He used to be a rapper; his rap name was Tone Deaf.”

Bill Maher SLAPS AROUND Radical NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani: “It was the third anniversary of the horrible attack in Israel on October 7, three years ago. And Mayor Mamdani, not all that sympathetic to this stuff, but he did make some nice remarks about it. He's against it. But then he pivoted right to what Israel made them do it.”

“You know, he used to be a rapper. His rap name was Tone Deaf.” Nailed it! — RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) October 10, 2026

The joke condensed Maher’s criticism into two words. By calling Mamdani tone deaf, Maher suggested that the mayor’s shift toward Israel was poorly suited to remarks marking the October 7 attack.

The comic line also served as Maher’s verdict on the balance of the statement as he described it. In his framing, Mamdani’s condemnation was overshadowed by the pivot that followed.

Maher’s monologue did not portray Mamdani as refusing to oppose the attack. Instead, it acknowledged the mayor’s critical remarks before arguing that his turn toward Israel weakened their impact.

That distinction remained central throughout the brief segment. Maher conceded that Mamdani was against the attack, yet still characterized him as “not all that sympathetic to” the anniversary and those affected by it.

The host’s approach combined criticism with ridicule. He first summarized what he believed Mamdani had done, then used the rapper joke to portray the mayor’s handling of the anniversary as glaringly insensitive.

Mamdani’s status as New York City mayor was also central to Maher’s setup. The host began by saying New York had problems and then immediately pointed to the mayor’s anniversary response as his example.

The result was a compact but cutting monologue aimed less at whether Mamdani condemned the attack and more at how he framed that condemnation. Maher’s complaint was that the mayor quickly redirected his remarks toward blame involving Israel.

By ending the exchange with “Tone Deaf,” Maher transformed that complaint into a blunt comic label. His message was unmistakably critical of both Mamdani’s pivot and the judgment behind it.

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