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APZohran Mamdani was prompted to do some damage control and clarify he wasn’t referring to a biological aunt New York City socialist mayoral candidate was forced to offer a clarification and debunk his own claim that his Muslim aunt was too scared to ride the subway after 9/11. His anecdote sparked a controversy on social media when he spoke about his "aunt" not using the subway in New York City due to post-9/11 Islamophobia. Zohran Mamdani said Monday that he was actually referring to one of his father's distant dead cousins, a woman he named only as Zehra, reported Daily Mail. "I was speaking about Zehra fuhi, my father’s cousin, who passed away a few years ago," he was quoted as saying by The Daily Mail. Mamdani’s campaign did not provide the cousin’s full name, when asked. The 33-year-old socialist mayoral front-runner made the revelation during a press conference after critics shared photos on social media of a woman they identified as his aunt, who was pictured without a hijab.ALSO READ: 'JD Vance's wife isn't a Muslim': Laura Loomer fires back at Mehdi Hasan over Zohran Mamdani's 9/11 remarksZohran Mamdani's lie busted?Last week, a teary-eyed Zohran Mamdani narrated how the September 2001 terror atrocity had left an aunt who wears a hijab too scared to use public transport in New York City. "I want to speak to the memory of my aunt, who stopped taking the subway after September 11 because she did not feel safe in her hijab," he said. “In an era of ever-diminishing bipartisanship, it seems that Islamophobia has emerged as one of the few areas of agreement,” Mamdani said as he called out election opponents Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa, as well as Mayor Eric Adams, about what he said were anti-Muslim attacks on his campaign.Live Events“I want to speak to the memory of my aunt, who stopped taking the subway after September 11th because she did not feel safe in her hijab,” he said during the emotional speech outside the Islamic Cultural Center in The Bronx.ALSO READ: Melania Trump never wanted to live in the US? New revelations about First Lady's aspiration surfaces months after deportation callBut internet sleuths was quick enough to find out that Zohran Mamdani's only living aunt, a woman called Masuma Mamdani, lived in Tanzania at the time of the September 2001 terror attacks. Moreover, a further photo emerged which revealed that Masuma does not wear a hijab. Zohran Mamdani faced the heat of relatives of 9/11 victims suggesting that they were "insulting and insensitive" and amounted to "lunacy". One of them branded Mamdani as "despicable liar" after he changed his story on Monday. She told the Daily Mail: "I find what he (Mamdani) had to say completely insulting to all of the people that suffered a horrible loss that day. "To compare an aunt being uncomfortable on the subway to all of these families that were murdered was just very insensitive and shows his true colors.""How dare he lie about 9/11 to invoke sympathy from Muslims. New York suffered horrible losses from a terrorist attack carried out by radical Islamists. He is a despicable liar and this should open everyone’s eyes to who he truly is." She said Mamdani should apologize, but didn't think he would.ALSO READ: ‘Mentally ill lunatic’: Charlie Kirk critic Nick Fuentes caught in firestorm with Trump ally Laura LoomerZohran Mamdani's damage controlAsked about the posts on Monday, Zohran Mamdani was prompted to do some damage control and clarify he wasn’t referring to a biological aunt. “For the takeaway from my more than 10-minute address about Islamophobia in this race and in this city, to be the question of my aunt, tells you everything you need to know about Cuomo and his inability to reckon with a crisis of his own making,” he was quoted as saying by The Post.Vice President J.D. Vance also hit out at Mamdani's comments about 9/11. Vance said the candidate's remarks ignored the nearly 3,000 people who died and the thousands more who were injured when the World Trade Center collapsed.ALSO READ: Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS will reach its closest point to Sun this week. Is Earth is in danger? Check detailsWriting on X, Vance said: 'According to Zohran the real victim of 9/11 was his auntie who got some (allegedly) bad looks.' Mamdani responded: 'This is all the Republican Party has to offer. Cheap jokes about Islamophobia so as to not have to recognize what people are living through, attempts to pit peoples' humanity against each other.' In his speech outside the mosque Mamdani recounted how, when he first entered politics, an uncle gently suggested he keep his faith to himself.Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! 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