AOC Says She Was Laughing at Mamdani’s Charlie Kirk Joke, Not 9/11 Victims
NEW YORK CITY, NY — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined MSNBC to address video from the New York City memorial ceremony that showed her smiling and speaking with Mayor Zohran Mamdani while names of those killed in the September 11 attacks were read aloud.
She appeared emotional during the interview and held up a photograph from the attacks as she spoke.
“Laughing at victims of such a violent tragedy would be heartless,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Zohran was making a joke about Charlie Kirk’s assassination that caught me off guard.”
The congresswoman said she hadn't expected the joke in such a serious setting and that her reaction was nothing more than a natural response. “I would never find humor in the loss of nearly 3,000 people,” she told the host.
“The moment on camera was about something else entirely.”
Ocasio-Cortez said she understood why a smile at that hour would look indefensible if the joke were about the tragic event. “It was not,” she said. “I know the difference. Everyone who was standing there knows the difference.”
She said she arrived early and remained through the full reading of names.
“I stayed because that is what respect looks like,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “One unexpected comment does not erase hours of standing there in the heat while families said the names out loud.”
The photograph she held during the interview showed the Twin Towers moments before they collapsed. She held it up as she spoke.
“This is not something anyone with a conscience laughs at,” she said. “I brought this picture so there would be no confusion about what I consider to be funny and what I do not.”
The congresswoman said she later told the mayor the timing was poor. “I said it to him directly,” she said. “A memorial is not the room for that kind of joke, regardless of how funny it was. He knows that now. He's not from here, so he's still learning.”
She closed the segment by repeating the distinction she wanted viewers to accept.
“Heartless is the right word for laughing at those victims,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “That is not what occurred. The joke was about Charlie Kirk. I know the far-right is going to twist it, but that's the truth.”
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