Resurfaced Zohran Mamdani Clip Sparks ‘Fake Accent’ Backlash

What’s with Democrats and fake accents?

A resurfaced 2016 radio interview featuring New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani sparked a wave of conservative mockery this week, with critics accusing Mamdani of adopting a “fake” Ugandan accent while promoting his mother Mira Nair’s Disney film, Queen of Katwe.

“The difference for me is I’m from Uganda, but I also grew up in New York,” Mamdani told South Africa’s Kaya 959 while discussing cultural differences between Kampala and New York.

“In Kampala, you will just not find that,” he said while talking about dancing. “People are all dancing. Everybody’s dancing, men, women and it’s fantastic that way.”

It was Mamdani’s noticeably different cadence that caught conservatives’ attention.

“Zohran Mamdani does an obviously fake Ugandan accent,” Benny Johnson wrote on X, asking: “How many Democrats have been caught using fake accents at this point?”

Former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt piled on, accusing Mamdani of “running another fake accent and appropriating African culture.”

Tara Bull had another comparison.

“Anyone else notice Mamdani’s accent change?” she wrote. “He must’ve studied at Obama University.”

The clip does not establish that Mamdani was intentionally faking an accent, and changes in speech depending on audience or setting can also reflect code-switching.

But for critics already eager to portray the democratic socialist mayor as performative, the decade-old footage has provided fresh ammunition.

Watch the clip below:

Another One?!

Here’s some footage found of NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani attempting to use a fake Ugandan accent while promoting a movie based in Africa.

What is with the Democrats and their fake accents?! pic.twitter.com/hHNIMXrr4U

— Conservative Brief (@ConservBrief) August 6, 2026