Stephen Colbert gave a special shout out to Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani after the latter not only defeated Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa, but also the billionaires that had their “knives out” for him.
The comedian addressed Mamdani’s big win in the New York City mayoral race during the opening monologue of Wednesday night’s “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” where he noted just how impressive the victory was.
“Mamdani didn’t just defeat Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa. He nut punched New York’s fattest cats,” he said. “Because, if you’ve been following the election, the billionaires had the knives out for Zohran, pumping massive amounts of cash into anti-Mamdani groups. I’m talking big, high rollers like cosmetics heir Ron Lauder, who donated $2.6 million to stop him. Hedge fund investor Bill Ackman, who donated $1.75 million against him. And co-founder of Airbnb, Joe Gebbia, who donated $2 million to defeat Mamdani.”
He added: “So, it’s a bad day for billionaires … or as it’s also known, still a pretty good day. They’re still billionaires. Things don’t really go bad for them.”
After taking shots at Mamdani’s rivals, the late night host also playfully roasted the Mayor-elect after the politician thanked nearly every demographic in New York City for making his win possible.
“I’m talking Latvian truck drivers and Nepalese librarians, Polish fishermen and pizza chefs from Eswatini, which used to be called Swaziland,” Colbert joked while doing a Mamdani impression. “I’m sorry. My wife got me an atlas for my birthday and now we all have to pay the price.”
Of course, Mamdani wasn’t the only Democrat to be mentioned in Colbert’s monologue, as Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger were also shouted out after their respective gubernatorial race wins in New Jersey and Virginia.
Watch Colbert’s full monologue above.
“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on CBS.
