Mayor Responds to Controversial Press Passes
On Tuesday, Mayor Zoran Mamdani stopped short of indicating whether he would revoke press passes granted to three female fans of Luigi Mangione, who have made violent statements recently.
The trio—identified as self-proclaimed “manjonistas” Avril Rios, Ashley Rojas, and Lena Weisbrot—generated considerable backlash on Monday. They were spotted outside a Manhattan courthouse wearing their press passes and proclaimed that the children responsible for the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson were “better off without him.”
When asked about the potential revocation of these official passes, Mamdani acknowledged that the women should not have been issued passes in the first place. However, he did not explicitly state that their credentials should be taken away.
The mayor mentioned that there will be a reevaluation of the press pass system. “We’re going to start our own review, and what I’m saying is there needs to be a good discussion about how far press passes should be extended and how far they shouldn’t be extended,” he said during a separate news conference in Queens.
Despite being pressed for a definitive answer on the situation, Mamdani did not commit to revoking the passes. “As part of our review, we will consider our immediate next steps,” he added.
The press passes are managed by the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment due to a law passed in 2021 that shifted the credentialing from the NYPD.
Typically, the city’s press pass process demands clips of breaking news, but Weisbrot reportedly relied on “personal notes” related to the Mangione case instead of actual news articles to secure approval.
In light of the recent controversy, the mayor’s office confirmed that it is currently reexamining its press pass procedures.
