Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s touchy team reportedly scrapped a CBS News interview over a social media post by its controversial new editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.
The socialist mayor had been in talks to appear on “CBS News Sunday Morning” with Robert Costa, albeit reluctantly given the doom-and-gloom coverage his campaign garnered from Weiss’ previous venture The Press, Vanity Fair reported.
But those fell apart Feb. 28 after Weiss reacted with a fire emoji to an X post featuring Iranian activist Masih Alinejad railing against Mamdani during a CBS News interview.
Weiss’ move was the “nail in the coffin” against him appearing on the network, insiders reportedly told Vanity Fair.
“Bari and her people have a clear axe to grind for him,” one former CBS producer said, according to the Vanity Fair report.
While Mamdani has gone into the lion’s den on Fox News and even met twice with President Trump at the White House, his team often tries to shield him from pesky inquiries by limiting so-called “off-topic” questions.
His chief mouthpiece Joe Calvello also drew fire for blocking X users from commenting on his posts.
Weiss, for her part, has been widely criticized for allegedly making the revered CBS News more Trump-friendly and partisan.
Her short tenure has been marked by controversies, such as pulling a “60 Minutes” segment on El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison that could have angered the Trump administration and hiring anti-aging influencer Peter Attia, who ended up prominently featured in the Epstein files.
City Hall officials didn’t respond to a request for comment about the reportedly aborted CBS interview.