October 14 2025, 08:15 
Democratic New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is getting accused of supporting “grooming” because he watched a famous drag queen perform at the New York City AIDS Memorial last Saturday, which was National Coming Out Day.
“Zohran Mamdani gets pleasure out of watching a grown man dress up as a woman and perform publicly where children can be present,” wrote hate influencer Chaya Raichik (who runs the anti-LGBTQ+ account Libs of TikTok on X). Raichik shared a video of Drag Race alum Plasma performing “New York, New York” in a green outfit in front of Mamdani in the rain. There were no children visible in the video.
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“Remember the goal of drag is to teach kids about alternate gender identities,” she continued. “Mamdani supports this grooming.”
Zohran Mamdani gets pleasure out of watching a grown man dress up as a woman and perfom publicly where children can be present.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) October 12, 2025
Remember the goal of drag is to teach kids about alternate gender identities.
Mamdani supports this grooming. pic.twitter.com/eenc2RABJR
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This past National Coming Out Day, Mamdani’s campaign held a “Gays for Zohran” event at the New York City AIDS Memorial.
“New York will not sit idly by while trans people are attacked,” Mamdani said in prepared comments at the event, according to Spectrum News. “We have to stand up for queer New Yorkers every single day.”
He also responded to criticism he faced for having a smiling picture taken earlier this year with Ugandan First Deputy Prime Minister Rebecca Kadaga, a key supporter of the death penalty for homosexuality legislation.
“Had I known that she was the architect of this horrific legislation and attack on queer Ugandans, I would not have taken it,” he said.
Plasma, the drag performer in the video Raichik posted to social media, got national attention when she was a contestant on Season 16 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, and she apparently got a lot of responses to her performance at the Mamdani campaign event.
“The internet thinks that I am such an idiot because they are convinced that all Muslims hate queer people,” she said in response in a video posted to TikTok. Mamdani is Muslim. “That is so funny to me, Christians!”
“Why did the Muslim invite me? He invited me!”
@plasma.nyc maybe y’all just aren’t used to politicians being inclusive instead of inciting violence !! VOTE @ZOHRAN_K_MAMDANI ON NOV 4 !! #vote #mamdani #nyc #plasma #newyork @Zohran Mamdani @Kiki Ball-Change @Laverne Cox @Chris Klemens @Brita Filter
♬ original sound – Plasma
In another video posted by a fan to Instagram, Plasma can be seen lipsyncing to “New York, New York” at the event.
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