Fox News came for Zohran Mamdani because he code switches, and it said so much more about them than it did about him
The New York City Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, was born in Uganda to parents of Indian heritage, moved to Capetown when he was five, then to New York when he was seven.
A recently surfaced clip of Mamdani talking to a South African radio station gave a small hint as to what that can do to a person’s accent.
fell down a mamdani rabbit hole and found this old interview from when he was on kaya fm in south africa. omg his ugandan accent is so thick here, i’m obsessed 🥹 pic.twitter.com/OxnXRfSnUP
— ً (@BALUCIAGA) August 4, 2026
People were, on the whole, delighted to hear him speaking in a different accent, with many identifying with the code-switching mayor.
Rare shiny legendary Mamdani https://t.co/45ss9hYBVT
— evan loves worf (@esjesjesj) August 5, 2026
The mayor of New York knowing how to Shoki is true representation. https://t.co/AJw0GSlueM
— Kole (@Sam_tzu) August 5, 2026
Top tier code switcher https://t.co/WvAmhvs5kF
— Ransome (@Bokamoso_Fela) August 5, 2026
When we say ‘people were delighted’, we didn’t mean all people. Fox News painted it as an ‘alleged fake Ugandan accent’.
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani is setting off an online frenzy after a nearly decade-old interview resurfaced showing him speaking with a noticeably different accent while discussing his Ugandan roots.
The 2016 clip features Mamdani talking about life in Kampala while promoting his… pic.twitter.com/KcQP6KilQd
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 7, 2026
It didn’t land how they might have hoped, with many people jumping in to defend him.
1.
I have at least 4 different accents depending on whom I'm talking to what's the news here https://t.co/Kp45FJjgtW
— Karl Sharro (@KarlreMarks) August 8, 2026
2.
This is tan suit level desperation. https://t.co/qXmw3uuQoT
— Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) August 8, 2026
3.
My Spanish teacher in podunk conservative Cobb county in the 2000s insisted we speak Spanish with the proper accent, welcome to life for bilingual people Fox News boomers https://t.co/diohSkYfCQ
— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) August 8, 2026
4.
This is the best they could come up with 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 https://t.co/16YYKnXZKI
— Tehran Tadhg (@TadhgHickey) August 8, 2026
5.
Fox News not realizing they're aura farming for America's Mayor is "Guns of August" level-obvious to the current battlefied. https://t.co/A2R1SjGRaE
— Pastor Ben (@BenjaminPDixon) August 8, 2026
6.
This is unconscionable! Why can’t he just be a REAL American and brag about grabbing women by the pussy https://t.co/Xgdh4npYlF
— Ali A. Rizvi 🇨🇦 (@aliamjadrizvi) August 7, 2026
7.
Oh no! He can switch accents! The end is nigh! Run for hills!
— Amina Khan (@aamkamal) August 7, 2026
8.
Fox News has serious Mamdani Derangement syndrome
— MAGA Derp (@MAGAderp) August 7, 2026
9.
If you have not spent time in enough diverse situations to accidentally or deliberately code shift, then you likely don't have much experience with diversity and TBH should STFU.
— Erika Meyer (@orca_island) August 7, 2026