A high-profile Zohran Mamdani appointee resigned Thursday after newly unearthed posts revealed a series of antisemitic comments online — including rants about “money hungry Jews” and defunding NYPD “piggies.”
The short-lived appointment fell apart once the Anti-Defamation League of New York and New Jersey demanded answers Thursday from Mayor-elect Mamdani’s team about whether its members knew about Catherine Almonte Da Costa’s past antisemitic posts on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Da Costa, whom Mamdani tapped on Wednesday as the city’s next director of appointments, had several vile stereotype-laden posts from 2011 and 2012, the ADL revealed in a post on X.
Catherine Almonte Da Costa was announced as Mamdani’s director of appointments. REUTERS
Catherine Almonte Da Costa speaks after she’s announced as Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s appointee. Paul Martinka
“Money hungry Jews smh,” she tweeted in January 2011.
“Woo! Promoted to the upstairs office today! Working alongside these rich Jewish peeps,” she tweeted in June that year.
In June 2012, Da Costa posted: “Far Rockaway train is the Jew train.”
The posts remained up until Thursday afternoon, when Da Costa apparently deleted the account.
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani stands with his new appointee, Catherine Almonte Da Costa. Paul Martinka
Before the account went dark, the ADL asked if Mamdani’s team knew about them, if they were excused, and how’d they respond to similar messages in the future.
“Her social media footprint includes posts from more than a decade ago that echo classic antisemitic tropes and otherwise demean Jewish people,” the ADL’s post on X reads. “Tweeting about ‘Money hungry Jews’ is indefensible.
Catherine Almonte Da Costa’s tweets dating from 2012 ad 2014.
“We appreciate Da Costa has relationships with members of the Jewish community, but her posts require immediate explanation — not just from Ms. Da Costa, but also from the Mayor-Elect.”
Within a few hours, Da Costa had resigned from the forthcoming gig, saying she had become a “distraction.”
“I spoke with the Mayor-elect this afternoon, apologized, and expressed my deep regret for my past statements,” Da Costa said in a statement.
A tweet dated from 2011 from Catherine Almonte Da Costa’s Twitter account.
“These statements are not indicative of who I am. As the mother of Jewish children, I feel a profound sense of sadness and remorse at the harm these words have caused. As this has become a distraction from the work at hand, I have offered my resignation.”
Da Costa had previously worked under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration for its census team. She was to be leaving her current job as head of culture at Orchestra, a large communications and marketing group, to “bring top talent” into Mamdani’s administration, the mayor-elect’s team has said.
The Post also discovered that Da Costa’s risible past posts include derogatory anti-NYPD statements, including one that simply stated “F— the police.”
A picture of Catherine Almonte Da Costa’s tweet from 2020 asking to defund the NYPD.
“I’m going to need a couple of piggy banks to pay these off :/ but no I was referring to the nypd piggies!!!!” she posted in 2012.
Da Costa also backed the “Defund the police” movement during 2020’s George Floyd protests.
“#DefundNYPD by $1B in FY2021, get cops out of our schools & subways, and invest in our communities!” she posted on June 15, 2020.
Da Costa apologized for the comments in a statement on Thursday.
“As the mother of two Jewish children, I deeply regret and apologize for these tweets from well over a decade ago,” she said. “These comments do not in any way, shape, or form reflect who I am or my views and beliefs today.”
Meanwhile, Mamdani’s camp condemned the statements, calling them “unacceptable” and saying they “absolutely do not represent him or the values of his administration.”
“Catherine expressed her deep remorse over her past statements and tendered her resignation, and I accepted,” the mayor-elect said.
