John Oliver celebrates Mamdani and blasts Cuomo

John Oliver celebrated Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the New York City mayoral race on Sunday’s episode of Last week tonight.

Mamdani prevailed over Andrew Cuomo, who had been endorsed by President Donald Trump, in Tuesday’s election.

Oliver showed footage of Mamdani’s victory speech, in which the mayor-elect said: “I wish Andrew Cuomo the best in his private life. But let tonight be the last time I say his name as we turn the page on a policy that fails the many and answers to the few.”

Oliver noted that many pundits criticized the speech, with CNN’s Van Jones saying it was “sharp” and marked a “change in character” for Mamdani. (Other criticisms came from Washington Post, which published an editorial that said: “In 23 angry minutes laced with identity politics and seething with resentment, Mamdani abandoned his composure and made clear that his vision of politics is not about unity. “)

“It seems deeply unfair to me,” Oliver said after quoting Jones. “He just survived one of the most Islamophobic campaigns in recent memory. ‘I wish Andrew Cuomo all the best in his private life’ is a frankly superhuman level of grace to extend to a man who has yet to pronounce your name correctly even once, especially since he could have said, ‘Andrew, your campaign was terrible.'”

Oliver then pointed to Cuomo’s ads, several of which were reportedly produced by AI. One of them in particular presented “the bill of School rockpregnant and with luscious, kissable lips,” Oliver said, then continued with an alternate version of what Mamdani might have said to Cuomo in his speech: “Will you fuck the bill of School rockAndrew? Do you? Well, good news, it’s now possible in your private life. I wish you the best, you pervert.