A lipreader has disclosed what Rudy Giuliani said to Mayor Zohran Mamdani during their tense handshake at Friday’s 9/11 memorial ceremony in New York.
Jeremy Freeman, a UK-based expert lipreader, determined that Giuliani, 82, told Mamdani, “I prayed for you. Good job. OK.” The devout Roman Catholic former mayor delivered the message as the two men shook hands at Ground Zero, where they had both gathered to mark the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.
Body language expert and behavior analyst Traci Brown found the exchange revealingly awkward after reviewing footage of the moment. “Giuliani’s eyebrows [are] up in recognition and acknowledgment. But his frown grows the longer they shake hands. So he’s not happy about the connection,” she observed.
Brown continued her analysis by noting Mamdani’s contrasting posture. “Mamdani is leaning in and wants to connect. After he’s not feeling so good about it. And works to counteract that feeling by making himself confident. That’s what the hand on his hip is,” she added.
The handshake came just days after Giuliani had publicly demanded that Mamdani skip the memorial services entirely. During a Sunday interview with Newsmax, Giuliani claimed that Mamdani “doesn’t agree that September 11 was an Islamic terrorist attack on the United States of America.” He followed the allegation with an anti-Muslim conspiracy-laced rant, declaring “No question” and stating that Mamdani attending 9/11 memorials “offends me.”
Mamdani, who is Muslim, responded indirectly to his predecessor on Tuesday without naming him specifically. “People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air,” he said. The mayor’s comments accompanied City Hall’s release of 170,000 long-hidden documents detailing air quality risks following the attacks.
Giuliani led New York City during and after the 2001 terror attacks, earning the nickname “America’s Mayor” for his visible presence at Ground Zero in the immediate aftermath. His administration has faced sustained criticism from first responders and survivors who say city officials downplayed the toxic dust hazards at the site, contributing to widespread respiratory illnesses and cancers among rescue workers and downtown residents.
Mamdani took office earlier this year as the city’s first Muslim mayor, making his attendance at the 9/11 anniversary politically significant given Giuliani’s inflammatory remarks. The former mayor’s call for him to stay away from memorial events drew condemnation from civil rights advocates who noted the Islamophobic undertones of suggesting a Muslim elected official could not appropriately commemorate an attack by Islamist extremists.
Despite the public feud, both men appeared at Friday’s ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, where the brief handshake and Freeman’s lipread message provided the only direct interaction between them.
The 25th anniversary commemorations continue across the nation through the weekend, with additional memorial events scheduled in cities including Shanksville, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.