NEW YORK (AP) — Rama Duwaji, the wife of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, has apologized for “harmful” social media posts she made as a teenager, responding publicly after a conservative news outlet combed through her online profiles and resurfaced material, including a post in which she used an anti-gay slur.

In an interview with the arts website Hyperallergic, Duwaji, an illustrator, said she felt “a lot of shame being confronted with language I used that is so harmful to others,” adding that “being 15 doesn’t excuse it.”

“I’ve read and seen a lot of what others have had to say in response, and I understand the hurt I caused and am truly sorry,” she said in the interview, published Wednesday, in response to a question about adjusting to life as a public figure.

Duwaji did not specify which comments she was referring to, nor did she address other, more recent social media activity regarding Israel that has attracted heavy scrutiny as Mamdani tries to ease concerns among some in the US city’s Jewish community over his own criticism of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

Last month, The Washington Free Beacon reported on years of Duwaji’s online activity across a handful of social media........

© The Times of Israel