Zohran Mamdani Declines Kimmel's Trump Selfie Request on Brooklyn Stage

Mayor Zohran Mamdani refused Jimmy Kimmel's on-air request to text President Trump a selfie of the two of them, capping the mayor's first appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" since taking office.

"Jimmy, I love you, but I love housing more," Mamdani said, shutting down the bit.

The exchange came during the first night of Kimmel's week of shows taped at the Brooklyn Academy of Music — his eighth time filming "Live" in the borough where he was born. Kimmel told the audience the show received more than 150,000 ticket requests for the Brooklyn run. Monday's guests included Pete Davidson and Mamdani, with a musical performance by TV on the Radio marking the 20th anniversary of their album "Return to Cookie Mountain." Howard Stern, Billy Crystal, Paul McCartney and Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) are set to appear later in the week.

Before Mamdani walked out, Kimmel aired a montage of Fox News commentators predicting New York City would become "terrifying" under Mamdani and that crime would go "through the roof." Those predictions did not hold: murders and shootings in the city hit record lows in Mamdani's first seven months in office.

Kimmel pressed the mayor on his working relationship with Trump. "Did you guys hit it off immediately or is it something that you really went into thinking, 'OK, I need to have a relationship with the president of the United States, and I think the best way to do it is to charm him.' How did you do that, and can you help me?" the host asked.

Mamdani laughed. "Sorry brother," he replied. "The president and I have many disagreements. One thing we do agree on is this city, how much we love this city, so from that first meeting in November of last year, I was just thinking of how we can make this meeting not about us, but about New Yorkers. How can we spend that time talking about the things that can make life in the city a little bit easier."

Kimmel then played a clip of Mamdani standing beside Trump at Gracie Mansion as the president delivered a rambling speech, the camera closing in on the mayor's stone-faced expression. "I watch that, and I go, 'OK, this is not a guy I'd want to play poker with,'" Kimmel said.

Mamdani explained that while Trump spoke, he was focused on securing federal approval for his proposed Sunnyside Yard project in Queens — a development he said would deliver an estimated 12,000 new homes and approximately 30,000 jobs.

Asked whether he texts with the president, Mamdani confirmed intermittent communication, again centered on Sunnyside Yard. He also raised the situation of Haitian New Yorkers, whose Protected Status the administration has ended. "I really believe we need to do whatever we can so they have stability," Mamdani said. "They're part of the fabric of this city."

Davidson appeared earlier in the show to promote his Netflix video podcast "The Pete Davidson Show" and his upcoming film "How to Rob a Bank." The night also carried Kimmel's familiar theater: Matt Damon heckled the host in a Boston Red Sox cap on the eve of the Yankees-Red Sox AL Wild Card Series, flanked by Kimmel's mother and sister and Jon Hamm, dressed as an irate New York City construction worker.

For Mamdani, the appearance served a concrete political end: a national platform to press for federal sign-off on a 12,000-home Queens project — with a punchline that doubled as a policy statement.