The New York Knicks sent New York City mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani a cease-and-desist letter after he ran an ad using their logo.
Mamdani’s campaign aired an ad on the Knicks’ season opener on Wednesday night, featuring the team’s iconic logo altered to have “Zohran” replace the central “Knicks.” It was spread over the campaign’s social media platforms and captioned, “This is our year. This is our time.”
The NBA heavyweight was quick to respond, sending the campaign a cease-and-desist letter. It affirmed its lack of endorsement in a statement sent to various media publications.
“The NY Knicks have sent NYC Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani a cease-and-desist letter for using the NY Knicks logo to promote his candidacy,” the statement read.
“The Knicks want to make it clear that we do not endorse Mr. Mamdani for Mayor, and we object to his use of our copyrighted logo. We will pursue all legal remedies to enforce our rights,” it added.
In the letter, obtained by the New York Post, the Knicks demanded that the Mamdani campaign remove all of the team’s intellectual property from campaign and promotional material.
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Mamdani appeared to comply with the letter quickly. As of Friday, the campaign had removed all the ads from its social media platforms.
The gaffe is unlikely to dent Mamdani’s momentum, however. The most recent polls taken over the past few weeks all show him with a double-digit lead over his rivals. The most recent poll, deemed credible by a New York Times aggregator, gives him a colossal 24-point lead among likely voters.