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Former Will & Grace star Debra Messing faced criticism on election day in November 2025 for sharing a controversial Instagram Story about New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani. Messing became increasingly outspoken with her political views following the October 7 terrorist attack in southern Israel by Hamas in 2023. Her views on the Israel-Palestine conflict put her at odds with NYC mayoral candidate Mamdani, who has said that “the struggle for Palestinian liberation” was at the “core” of his political philosophy. (Mamdani condemned the October 7 attack as a “horrific war crime.”) The sitcom star endorsed one of Mamdani’s opponents — former New York governor Andrew Cuomo — but it was her decision to share a controversial meme via her Instagram Story on election day that raised eyebrows. The message likened Mamdani to a “jihadist” and was swiftly condemned by many on social media. “Debra Messing is a psychopath,” writer and podcaster Carey O’Donnell wrote in a now-deleted tweet on November 4. Us explains the controversy below. What Did Debra Messing Post About the New York City Mayoral Election? Debra Messing sounded off on social media often about the New York City mayoral race in the lead up to the election on November 4, 2025. Zohran Mamdani — who is the son of Oscar-nominated filmmaker Mira Nair and political commentator Mahmood Mamdani — won the Democratic Party nomination in a shocking primary upset over former New York governor Andrew Cuomo and community organizer Brad Lander in June 2025, securing 43.82 percent of the overall vote. Incumbent mayor Eric Adams chose to skip the primaries entirely and run in November’s election as an independent but ultimately dropped out of the race in September 2025. On election day, it was down to a three-way race between Mamdani as a Democrat, Cuomo as an independent and Republican Curtis Sliwa. Messing voiced her support for Cuomo via Instagram on October 25, 2025, revealing that she voted early in the mayoral election. “I voted for @andrewcuomo because we need someone with experience** to bring our city back to what it should be — safe, the thriving financial center of the world, more low cost housing, more police to make our streets and subways safe for everyone. A social worker cannot help someone who is stabbed in the subway,” she wrote. The actress continued, “Our city is too massive, complex, and consequential to have someone 33 years old who has never held a job, and missed 80% of his votes as Councilman. Perhaps with more experience. But not now. Use your voice! Vote early! Every vote makes a difference!” Mamdani ultimately won the New York City mayoral election with 50.04 percent over Cuomo’s 41.6 percent and Sliwa’s 7.1 percent, making him the city’s first Muslim and Indian-American mayor. What Did Debra Messing Post About Zohran Mamdani on Election Day 2025? On election day, Messing shared a spree of Instagram Stories attacking Mamdani’s political record, including reposting a meme from an account called The Persian Jewess, according to Entertainment Weekly. The meme that Messing shared suggested the New York City mayoral election was a choice between “A Democrat. Just a Democrat” and “an actual communist jihadist. A literal Karl Marx-quoting, America-hating jihadist.” What Is a Jihadist? According to Webster’s Dictionary, a jihadist is a “a Muslim who advocates or participates” in a “holy war waged on behalf of Islam,” known as a jihad. What Backlash Did Debra Messing Face Due to Her Instagram Story About Zohran Mamdani? Messing was widely condemned for sharing a meme that compared Mamdani to a “jihadist.” Over 1.9 million people viewed a tweet that pointed out that “Debra Messing has posted 100 instagram stories in the past 24 hours.” A screenshot of the offensive meme was included in the tweet. “Debra Messing has posted 91 Instagram stories in the past 24 hours. Not an exaggeration,” another tweet pointed out. “I think Zohran has actually broken her brain, although it wasn’t in great shape before this mayoral election anyway. Fascinating albeit kinda scary to watch though.” More than 98,000 people engaged with a message that suggested that “the Debra Messing meltdown is in full swing.” “For some reason I punished myself by looking at Debra Messing’s Instagram and she has like 20 stories that are just Islamophobia,” an X user complained. Not everyone disagreed with Messing, with some claiming her overall criticism of the NYC Mayor-Elect was “absolutely correct.” What Has Debra Messing Said About the Backlash to Her Post About Zohran Mamdani? Messing has yet to respond to the criticism. Us Weekly has reached out for comment.
