New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani publicly distanced himself from past statements made by one of his top housing officials that described home ownership as a “weapon of white supremacy,” as scrutiny mounts over the official’s rhetoric and record.

Mamdani addressed the controversy during an interview with PIX11 anchor Henry Rosoff, after Rosoff pressed him on comments made years earlier by Cea Weaver, Mamdani’s pick to lead the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants.

Weaver has faced criticism over resurfaced posts from a now-deleted X account. In a 2017 post, she wrote that “home ownership” is a “weapon of white supremacy.” In another post the following year, she declared, “There is no such thing as a ‘good’ gentrifier, only people who are actively working on projects to dismantle white supremacy and capitalism and people who aren’t.”

The remarks have drawn renewed attention after New York Post reported this week that Weaver broke down in tears when questioned about a $1.6 million home owned by her mother in Nashville, Tennessee.

In a separate interview with Spectrum News, Weaver said she regretted “some” of her past statements after former Mayor Eric Adams accused her of being “out of her mind.”

“I don’t think I’m out of my mind,” Weaver said. “Some of those things are certainly not how I would say things today, and are regretful.”

Pressed by Rosoff on whether he agreed with Weaver’s framing of landlords or homeowners as linked to white supremacy, Mamdani rejected the substance of the comments while making clear he would keep her in the role.

“Obviously, that’s not an opinion that I share,” Mamdani said. “And I made the decision to have her as our executive director of the mayor’s office to protect tenants, not because of her comments, but because of her work.”

The mayor went on to praise Weaver’s record, saying she has delivered “significant victories for tenants” both in New York City and statewide, and described her as a key figure in building coalitions between upstate and downstate housing advocates.

“We’ve seen her already hard at work in this past week,” Mamdani added.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)