NY Mayor Zohran Mamdani Blasts Paramount-WBD Deal As “Shameful Monument To Corruption”

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a day after continuing his congenial dealings with President Donald Trump, blasted the “federal leaders” supporting the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger.

“America is free only when the media is competitive, independent, and accountable to the people,” Mamdani posted on X Tuesday. “This merger strikes a chilling blow against that freedom – and hands even more power to billionaires like David Ellison to decide what Americans see and hear, all while lifting scrutiny off the federal leaders who pushed it through.”

Paramount reached a settlement with attorneys general from 12 states, including New York, as well as with the Writers Guild of America in dual antitrust lawsuits filed last July. The agreements remove the final barriers keeping Paramount from closing the controversial $111 billion transaction, which will remake Hollywood and likely result in sizable layoffs.

Trump has yet to weigh in publicly on the deal, though Larry Ellison, the Oracle billionaire who is a key funder of the deal and CEO David Ellison’s father, is an ally of the president.

Mamdani in his post saluted New York AG Letitia James “for the protections she secured for workers.” He closed with a withering line about the regulatory process, though he didn’t make the target of his scorn completely clear. “This decision is a shameful monument to corruption and a betrayal that the American people won’t soon forget,” he wrote.

The social media missile stood in contrast with Monday’s atmosphere at Gracie Mansion, where Mamdani hosted Trump at the mayoral residence during his visit for the United Nations General Assembly. Their joint news conference showcased their mutually respectful, at times almost playful, dynamic. Behind closed doors, they said they discussed topics like affordable housing and immigration.

Trump repeated his hope that Mamdani would be “a great mayor.” Mamdani defended the decision to engage peaceably with Trump despite their many policy disagreements. “I committed over the course of the campaign, as well as while being in office, that I would meet with anyone, work with anyone that could deliver for New Yorkers,” he said. “So having a conversation about potentially building 12,000 homes, about the importance of our Haitian neighbors here in this city, those are conversations that are worthwhile to have.

Even though the president has mounted constant attacks on “radical” and “Communist” Democratic candidates in November’s midterm elections, he has appeared to be charmed by the young mayor of his home town. They have met two previous times at the White House.

Presidential visits to Gracie Mansion have been rare, the New York Times noted. Harry Truman attended a luncheon there in 1949 for a ceremony during construction of the U.N.’s headquarters building. John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan appeared there in 1962 and 1981, respectively.