The Aporia · Mamdani hires $185K adviser who edited ‘Pinko’ magazine and railed about abolishing police

Mamdani hires $185K adviser who edited ‘Pinko’ magazine and railed about abolishing police

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Fischetti, M. (2026, September 16). Mamdani hires $185K adviser who edited ‘Pinko’ magazine and railed about abolishing police. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2026/09/16/us-news/mamdani-hires-185k-adviser-who-edited-pinko-magazine-and-railed-about-abolishing-police/

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Quick Summary

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has hired Lena Afridi as a senior adviser at a salary of $185,000. Afridi, who identifies as a "gay communist" and was an editor at the magazine Pinko, which advocates for gay communism and the abolition of private property and the police state, previously posted on social media calling for the defunding and eventual abolition of the NYPD and praising figures linked to violent Marxist organizations. The Washington Free Beacon reported these details, highlighting Afridi's deleted posts that reflect radical political views before her hire at City Hall.

Written by AI on 2026-09-17, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Lena Afridi, a senior adviser to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani earning a salary of $185,000, was previously known for her support of “gay communism” and calls for abolishing the police. According to a LinkedIn post by Dean Fuleihan, First Deputy Mayor, Afridi was hired to advise on responses to federal intervention. She had also been an editor at Pinko magazine, which describes itself as "communism for fags." In deleted social media posts, Afridi praised Marxist ideology and mourned Rita 'Bo' Brown, a former member of the militant George Jackson Brigade. The Washington Free Beacon first reported these details in April 2023.

Written for “Mamdani Adviser Controversy” on 2026-11-01, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

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66/100

New York Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

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Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Who wrote this

Matthew Fischetti

10 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction

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2026-10-28 · mixed framing · NYC early voting jumps 70% from last gubernatorial election

🔮 The Transport Workers Union of America, whose local members include roughly 40,000 city subway and bus workers toiling under an MTA contract that lapsed in May, began airing the scathing spots Friday, a day before early voting opened

2026-10-25 · assertive framing · Major transit union launches ad blitz ripping Hochul as so ‘toxic’ that Dem pols are running from her

🔮 “Given the long history of antisemitism and the persecution of Jewish people, the use of this symbol in a context that may associate it with sinister or threatening imagery is particularly disturbing.

2026-10-16 · mixed framing · NYC pols call on Amazon to pull ‘demeaning’ Halloween witch animatronic with Star of David spell book

🔮 Mayor Zohran Mamdani is threatening to sue Columbia University to open their campus gates — which have been locked for three years since the anti-Israel campus protests of 2023.

2026-10-02 · assertive framing · Mamdani threatens Columbia University with lawsuit if it won’t open gates to public

🔮 Mayor Zohran Mamdani will be sitting in the guest seat for Monday’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” as the West Coast-produced show heads to the Big Apple for a week-long stretch.

2026-09-28 · assertive framing · Mamdani set to join ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ for NYC-broadcast on Monday

🔮 Labor and construction industry groups lashed out at Democratic Rep. Josh Riley and pushed back against his claims that two bills he pitched would bring down energy costs.

2026-09-24 · assertive framing · Unions trash Dem Rep. Josh Riley’s proposed legislation to lower utility bills

🔮 Now the nonprofit group “A Better Road Forward” is launching TV ads directed at voters and will hold informational meetings around the state, according to Politico.

2026-09-20 · assertive framing · Group pushes to bring driverless Waymos to NY after anti-robotaxi study falls flat

🔮 Mayor Zohran Mamdani will welcome President Trump to Gracie Mansion on Monday when the commander in chief visits the Big Apple for the United Nations General Assembly.

2026-09-20 · assertive framing · Mamdani to meet with Trump at NYC’s Gracie Mansion this week

🔮 A senior adviser to Mayor Zohran Mamdani pulling in a $185,000 salary repeatedly praised “gay communism” and called for abolishing the police in deleted social media posts, a new report said.

2026-09-16 · assertive framing · Mamdani hires $185K adviser who edited ‘Pinko’ magazine and railed about abolishing police

🔮 City Hall officials broke state record-keeping rules with a secret Signal chat filled with pro-Zohran Mamdani influencers, the mayor’s top attorney seemingly admitted Friday.

2026-09-04 · assertive framing · NYC broke record-keeping rules with Mamdani’s secret influencer Signal chat, mayor’s top attorney seemingly admits

Also by Matthew Fischetti

NYC early voting jumps 70% from last gubernatorial election

2026-10-28 · New York Post

Major transit union launches ad blitz ripping Hochul as so ‘toxic’ that Dem pols are running from her

2026-10-25 · New York Post

NYC pols call on Amazon to pull ‘demeaning’ Halloween witch animatronic with Star of David spell book

2026-10-16 · New York Post

Mamdani threatens Columbia University with lawsuit if it won’t open gates to public

2026-10-02 · New York Post

Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

All 10 articles by Matthew Fischetti →

Claims (11 extracted, 1 hedged)

A senior adviser to Mayor Zohran Mamdani pulling in a $185,000 salary repeatedly praised “gay communism” and called for abolishing the police in deleted social media posts, a new report said. asserted

report → pull → posts

Lena Afridi, a self proclaimed “gay communist” who uses they/them pronouns, was hired to advise “on responses to federal intervention” for First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan according to an April LinkedIn post. uncertain

who → proclaim → post

Afridi is listed as an editor at Pinko magazine which has described itself as “communism for fags” and a “collective for thinking gay communism.” asserted

which → list → communism

“What do we mean by communism? asserted

we → mean → communism

Something like the freedom not to have to seek our lives on the market, attained through the abolition of all forms of private property, family and the state,” Pinko wrote in a 2019 blog post. asserted

Pinko → seek → post

Afridi lavished support for “gay communism” and even posted a brief eulogy for Rita ‘Bo’ Brown — a former member of a violent 1970s Marxist organization — in deleted social media posts recovered by The Washington Free Beacon, which first reported the news. asserted

which → lavish → news

“RIP to Rita Bo Brown, a militant butch working class revolutionary and one of the founders of the George Jackson Brigade,” Afridi wrote on X. “On a personal note, outside of work: while I believe that defunding the NYPD is absolutely necessary in order to get much needed resources to the people, I *also* believe that the only way to achieve true liberation is not through reform but abolition of the police,” the Mamdani staffer posted. asserted

staffer → write → police

Afridi also described Aaron Bushnell, the US Air Force serviceman who died after setting himself outside the Israel Embassy in Washington D.C., as someone who “died for truth” and is “venerated across the world” in a piece for Acacia Magazine. asserted

who → describe → Magazine

Afridi even once told people to “Stop glorifying Gandhi” because he was a “racist anti-Black misogynist” in other deleted posts. asserted

he → tell → posts

Afridi is the latest City Hall hire who scrubbed their bonkers social media posts before taking their positions. asserted

who → scrub → positions

Mamdani Chief Equity Officer deleted posts calling to tax wealthy people “to the white meat” and “there’s NO moderate way to black liberation” before being tapped for the job. Cea Weaver, director of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants, infamously wrote that homeownership was a “weapon of white supremacy” in now deleted posts City Hall and Afridi didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. asserted

Hall → delete → comment

Mamdani hires $185K adviser who edited ‘Pinko’ magazine and railed about abolishing police

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Claims (11 extracted, 1 hedged)