A fierce debate has erupted after New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani was told by a Republican to ‘go back to the third world’ after he was filmed eating rice with his hands.
Mamdani attracted the disdain of Congressman Brandon Gill — but he is not the only US political figure to forgo utensils, as a picture showing Donald Trump eating an XL serving of McDonald’s fries shows.
Responding to a video of the Indian-American Democrat scooping from a bowl of biryani during an interview, the congressman wrote on X: ‘Civilized people in America don’t eat like this.
‘If you refuse to adopt Western customs, go back to the Third World.’
Gill’s comments were attacked by Pakistani media platform Dawn, which said: ‘The implication that eating rice with his hands is “uncivilised” is blatant racism.
‘For centuries, people — not just South Asians, but other cultures — have used their hands to eat their food.’
On X, one user named Yoda Cat shared the picture of Donald Trump eating fries, and wrote: ‘I can’t believe he’s eating with his hands.
‘Disgusting third worlder. He’ll never be civilized.’
Turkish-American media host Cenk Uygur weighed in: ‘Civilized people only eat pizza, burgers, sandwiches, tacos, bagels, donuts and dozens of other foods with their hands! But not rice! That’s a bridge too far!
‘That’s when all civilization breaks down! Is this Congressman really this dumb or is he just trying to spread hatred?’
Dawn also pointed out that Mamdani had been talking about how his upbringing in Africa has impacted his politics when he spoke, but that Gill had chosen instead to focus on the Democratic nominee’s eating habits.
Gill later doubled down on his comments, claiming: ‘Zohran Mamdani wants to defund the police, get rid of billionaires, seize the means of production, and “globalize the intifada.” He’s fetishizing the Third World so that he can promote Third World policies.’
The President and other Republicans have also taken aim at Mamdani, with Trump even suggesting that the self-identified Democratic socialist might be deported.
Mamdani’s family emigrated to the US from Uganda when he was a child, and he became a US citizen in 2018.
If he wins the mayoral race in November, the nominee will be the city’s first Muslim and Indian-American mayor.
Who is Rama Duwaji? The wife of the 33-year-old socialist poised to be NYC’s next mayor
New York City may have its eyes on the mayoral Democratic primary after Governor Andrew Cuomo was defeated by Zohran Mamdani, but the race’s unexpected star is not on the ballot.
Rama Duwaji stood beside her husband as the 33-year-old Muslim socialist led with 43 percent of the vote and ‘made history’, in his own words.
It was only a few weeks ago that Mamdani ‘hard launched’ his wife, who he met on Hinge, sharing a carousel of their wedding pictures on Instagram.
Until recently, the glamorous Syrian illustrator – who uses her art to support America’s growing pro-Palestine movement – was largely absent from her husband’s online mayoral campaign.
That changed with a single post after right-wing trolls accused the politician of ‘hiding his wife from NYC.’
