New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani admits that he’s not a gamer. (He has, however, dabbled in Sim City and FIFA, and thrown a Mario Kart reference out there while discussing policy.) Today, though, he took the podium on the gamer’s streaming service of choice for a new Twitch show called “Talk with the People,” to answer questions from New Yorkers. No, he didn’t play any video games, but the chat was still telling him to hop on Minecraft, Fortnite, and Undertale in between the bots spamming nonsense and New Yorkers actually trying to ask the mayor a question. He also said he didn’t know what Minecraft was beyond the bad movie. Oof. That one hurt.
Mamdani’s actual stream was more straightforward than you might believe if you looked solely at the chat, where viewers used ASCII art to spam penises and also to say some pretty heinous things we won’t repeat here. He spoke about some issues in the city, including his budget deficit solution, changes to SNAP eligibility in NYC, and the ongoing efforts to deliver free childcare to families, and gave an update on his campaign promise to make buses fast and free, which he still maintains he’ll accomplish before the end of his term in 2030.
The mayor took a few questions from viewers, mostly about NYC legislation and also sports and city culture. One viewer asked if he would play Minecraft on the stream, and he seemed to have no real idea what the sandbox game was, and instead associates the name with something much worse.
“I’ve gotta be honest, I have not played Minecraft,” Mamdani said. “How do you play Minecraft? Is it a computer game? […] I sound so old, because to me, Minecraft is a movie that I knew was based on a video game.”
Mamdani wonders if he’s too old to know what the game is, which is crazy, because he’s only a year older than me. My guy, come to Kotaku, we’ll educate you.
While the mayor didn’t acknowledge the specifics of what was being said in chat, around 28 minutes in, co-host and seasoned streamer Moose asked viewers to “try to be a little respectful” and “keep it family friendly.” The chat’s demeanor did not change.