Actress Patricia Heaton has publicly supported a petition seeking to ban New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani from attending the 25th anniversary commemoration at Ground Zero on September 11, 2026. The petition, organized by families of 9/11 victims, has garnered nearly 45,000 signatures.
Heaton, who was in New York City on September 11, 2001, shared the Change.org petition with her more than 500,000 followers on X, encouraging New Yorkers to sign it. She described the experience of being in the city during the attacks as "terrifying."
"It needs to end," Heaton stated in a video shared on X, drawing parallels between the 9/11 attacks and the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. She characterized the Palestinian terror group Hamas as similar to al-Qaeda, responsible for the 2001 attacks that killed approximately 2,753 people in the World Trade Center. "It’s 9/11 again and here we are. The same terrorists are back in full force, this time going after Israel, but really they’re going after all of us," Heaton said.
The petition's organizers have branded Mayor Mamdani as an apologist for Islamic terror, arguing that his presence at the ceremony would be an insult to the victims. They cite Mamdani's past reluctance to condemn the phrase "globalize the intifada" and his association with his chief counsel, Ramzi Kassem, who reportedly represented an al-Qaeda member convicted of a bombing plot. The petition asserts that the anniversary should be a remembrance grounded in "shared American values: respect for the victims, recognition of the gravity of the attacks, and a clear rejection of the ideologies that contributed to such violence."
Giovanni Galante, who lost his wife Grace in the 9/11 attacks, spearheaded the petition. He stated his concern that Mamdani, a self-described socialist Democrat, is disqualified from attending the remembrance due to his past statements and affiliations.
Despite the opposition, Mayor Mamdani has indicated his intention to attend the anniversary events. When asked about the concerns, he stated that he plans to "proudly honor" those impacted by 9/11 by "standing alongside them" in September.