Patricia Heaton is supporting the ongoing effort to ban New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani from attending this year’s 9/11 remembrance ceremony due to the politician’s religious beliefs.
“Keep it going, New Yorkers,” Heaton, 68, wrote via X on Monday, July 27, referencing a petition urging Mamdani, 34, to skip the 25th anniversary commemorative event — a move some have condemned as Islamophobic.
More than 33,000 people have signed the petition at the time of publication.
The actress also reposted a separate message from a New Yorker who wrote, “Nearly 10k signatures from New Yorkers demanding to bar Mamdani from the 9/11 anniversary ceremony, numbers climbing by the minute.”
The post also featured a quote from an individual who lost a family member on 9/11, arguing Mamdani “is disqualified from attending the 9/11 remembrance ceremony and ought be barred.” (Mamdani was 9 years old during the deadly September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.)
Us has reached out to Heaton’s rep and Mamdani’s office for comment.
Earlier this month, some family members who lost loved ones on 9/11 created an online petition calling for Mamdani not to attend the 25th 9/11 remembrance ceremony.
“This anniversary is one of remembrance grounded in shared American values: respect for the victims, recognition of the gravity of the attacks and a clear rejection of the ideologies that contributed to such violence,” Giovanni Galante, a 9/11 widower, wrote via the petition. “For many families and community members, participation in these ceremonies carries an implicit expectation that those present uphold and affirm these principles without ambiguity.”
The petition continued, “Concerns have been raised about Mr. Mamdani’s public positions, associations and responses to rhetoric that many perceive as hostile to these shared values.”
Those who signed the petition “respectfully ask that the organizers carefully consider whether Mr. Mamdani’s participation would align with the intention of the ceremony and the expectations of the families most directly affected by the tragedy.”
In response to the movement trying to keep Mamdani away from certain 9/11 events, the New York City mayor told CBS News New York that he will “proudly honor the families, the survivors [and] the first responders forever impacted by that horrific terror attack by standing alongside them at this year’s 9/11 commemoration.”
He also plans to reaffirm “that we will never forget the solemn day felt by all of us who call this city home and, frankly, by all of us who called this country home.”
The 9/11 Memorial & Museum said they have “intentionally worked to keep the commemoration free of politics.” As a result, government officials from across the political spectrum have attended the ceremony in years past.
In 2024, President Donald Trump attended the 9/11 memorial service in New York City alongside right-wing influencer and known conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, who has spread debunked rumors that the deadly 2001 terrorist attack was an “inside job” carried out by the U.S. government.
