Claim:
New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s swearing-in ceremony was abruptly canceled after he refused to take his oath on the U.S. Constitution.
Rating:
A rumor that circulated online in November 2025 claimed New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s swearing-in ceremony was abruptly canceled after he refused to take his oath of office on the U.S. Constitution.
Snopes readers asked whether this rumor was true, including one user who emailed, “Did Zohran Mamdani refuse to swear his oath of office on the U.S. Constitution?”
Social media users shared the rumor on Facebook (archived), iFunny (archived), Instagram, LinkedIn (archived), Threads (archived), TikTok and X (archived). Some of those posts featured the same copied-and-pasted caption reading, “Hope you are waking up now……!!! Zohran Mamdani’s Swearing-In CANCELED After He REFUSED to Swear Oath on the U.S. Constitution!”
(Rita D. Chapman/Facebook)
Some readers believed Mamdani truly refused to take his oath on the Constitution and that someone — apparently government officials — canceled his swearing-in ceremony.
In short, Mamdani didn’t refuse to swear his oath on the Constitution, nor did anyone cancel his swearing-in ceremony.
This claim originated from a Nov. 5 post on SpaceXMania.com — a website with an “About Us” page saying it publishes satire. That page reads in part, “Our mission? To bring you the freshest fake news, some sassy analysis, and a good dose of satire, all rolled into one crazy concoction that orbits around Elon Musk and everything that’s lighting up the viral/trending charts.”
The fictional story spread in the days following Mamdani’s election victory. The New York Times reported Mamdani will assume office on Jan. 1, 2026, and that a swearing-in ceremony will follow.
AI accelerated the rumor
The owner or owners of the SpaceXMania website possibly used an artificial-intelligence tool to author the article’s text. Numerous scans of the text with AI-detection websites — which are not always reliable — returned wildly varying results. For example, ZeroGPT determined 7.95% of the article’s text was likely generated with AI, while Copyleaks concluded 100% of it was likely AI-generated.
Some Facebook users also seized on the rumor for financial gain, including some residing outside the U.S. For example, one popular Nov. 6 post (archived) on the News Story Facebook page presented the claim with a link in the comments leading to an ad-filled website.
(News Story/Facebook)
That website’s article — earning ad revenue for its owners — read in part:
In a jaw-dropping turn of events at the New York State Capitol this morning, Assemblyman-elect Zohran Mamdani stunned lawmakers and officials by refusing to take his oath of office on the U.S. Constitution, forcing the ceremony to be immediately canceled.
What was supposed to be a routine swearing-in quickly spiraled into political chaos when Mamdani, standing before the clerk and surrounded by reporters, quietly said he could not, in good conscience, “pledge allegiance to a system [he] believes is fundamentally flawed.”
Witnesses described the moment as “surreal.” The packed chamber — filled with family members, staff, and fellow legislators — fell completely silent. A few gasps were heard, followed by murmurs of disbelief.
This article displayed signs of someone generating its text with AI. For example, the final sentences of the article contained the same sort of forward-thinking, dramatized style of concluding a story that AI tools often generate. Those final sentences read, “And somewhere between the silence of that chamber and the storm outside, one question now hangs over his political future: Can a man who refuses to swear to the Constitution truly serve under it?”
The News Story Facebook page’s “page transparency” tab displayed information about its five managers, including that four allegedly resided in Cambodia. The page listed the fifth manager in the U.S.
For further reading, Snopes previously reported numerous other rumors about Mamdani, including one claim alleging he said his proposed city-run grocery stores would not sell alcohol, cigarettes or lottery tickets.
For background, here is why we alert readers to rumors created by sources calling their output humorous or satirical.
