Fact Check: Mamdani’s wife called ‘Hamas Cheerleader’ on NYC mural? No, it is AI-generated

Hyderabad: A mural featuring Rama Duwaji, wife of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, is going viral on social media. The graffiti shows her image alongside the words “Hamas Cheerleader.”

Recently, Duwaji faced flak after allegedly being linked to social media posts including a racial slur and support for Palestinian militant figures. A Washington Free Beacon report has stated that a review of her old X and Tumblr contained the posts on social media when she was a teenager and in her early 20s.

An image of the mural was shared on X by a user ‘@AdamMossoff’ with the caption, “Excellent mural of Rama Duwaji, wife of NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, that appeared in NYC a week ago. Never forget that Duwaji repeatedly cheered October 7 atrocities. If she was wife of Republican mayor of NYC, this would be on front page of NY Times and discussed nonstop on CNN. (sic)” (Archive)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The image of Rama Duwaji’s mural is AI-generated.

We scanned through credible news reports and social media posts to see if the image had been mentioned, but found none. This hinted that the image might be fake, possibly created using AI.

Where did the image come from?

The ‘signature’ of the graffiti artist on the mural reads ‘@Merikuh’. Using a keyword search, we found an X profile by the same name. The account shared the viral image on March 13 with the caption, “Mamdani’s wife is a Hamas cheerleader”.

Visual discrepancies

The image showed several signs that point to AI-generated content.

The taxi in the image is in classic New York-style yellow, but the words on it are gibberish. The street signboard also contains gibberish text, and the traffic sign is blurry. One of the buildings in the background looks like the Empire State Building. However, the windows on the building are slightly warped.

Results from AI tools

To check if the images are generated using AI, NewsMeter used Hive Moderation, an AI detection tool. The results concluded that the image is 94.7 per cent likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content.

Many other fake murals on the same account

The same profile contained several other ‘murals’ on building walls.

Two of these involve the NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani (links here and here), and another one shows US President Donald Trump. Using AI detection tools, we found that these images are also likely to be AI-generated content.

Grok calls it ‘not AI’

An analysis of the comments below the viral post revealed an inaccurate conclusion made by the Grok when asked about the AI image.

Replying to a comment, which called the viral post AI-generated, an X user ‘@AdamMossoff’ said that they have checked with X’s AI assistant, Grok, which confirmed that the image is ‘not AI’. The comment reads, “Grok says it's realb(I asked before posting it). I reconfirmed it again (sic)”. The user also shared a link to the Grok reply.

What did Grok say?

In a detailed reply, Grok wrote, “Yes, the mural appears to be real, not AI-generated.”

“If it were AI, we’d likely see inconsistencies in lighting, brick texture blending, or perspective issues—but it fits typical NYC street art realism,” added Grok, despite the visual discrepancies in the viral image.

“Reports describe it as a quick guerrilla-style piece: the face painted first, then the provocative “Hamas Cheerleader” caption added below, targeting Rama Duwaji (wife of NYC politician Zohran Mamdani).” However, there are no reports cited in the sources of the reply, only web searches and searches on X.

The AI assistant also explained how murals are treated in the city: “These things often get painted over quickly in NYC, especially controversial ones like this.”

However, the conclusion by Grok, as proved by multiple tools, is wrong.

Conclusion

The viral image showing Rama Duwaji’s Mural in NYC with the caption ‘Hamas Cheerleader’ is AI-generated, and NewsMeter concludes that the viral claim is false.