Staff Reporter: Democrat New York Governor Kathy Hochul embarrassingly mispronounced New York City mayoral favorite Zohran Mamdani's name several times at a rally for the socialist candidate, earning jeers among his vocal supporters. Hochul butchered Mamdani's name at least four times Sunday during her roughly 10-minute-speech campaigning for the candidate, who she declined to endorse until he had already won the Democratic primary in June .
As the crowd grew louder and kept shouting, Hochul said 'Zohran' and then started to say 'Mamdani,' but appeared to think better of it, not wanting to mispronounce it again. For about four seconds, she kept her head up and smiled out at rowdy fans of the 34-year-old New York assemblyman. She then gave a brief look down at her notes before returning to her speech. Several minutes later, Hochul's speech approached its crescendo as she advocated for universal child care, a policy both she and Mamdani want to pursue at the city and state levels.
During one particularly awkward moment at the event in Queens, Hochul completely stopped speaking as she listened to the crowd chanting 'say his name' and yelling the correct pronunciation of 'Mamdani.'
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