Paladino Settles With Council Over Anti-Muslim Tweets

By Katie Honan, The City

May 13, 2026

Councilmember Vickie Paladino and the City Council settled their ethics feud over her anti-Muslim social media posts, with the Queens Republican agreeing to delete her tweets and remove any mention of her job on her personal accounts.

The charges filed March 2 by the Council’s ethics committee were permanently withdrawn, according to a court filing. In turn, Paladino withdrew a lawsuit she filed against the Council.

The Committee on Rules, Privileges, Elections, Standards and Ethics voted in early March to charge Paladino for social media posts she made after Zohran Mamdani was elected as the city’s first Muslim mayor, and a tweet she published after an ISIS-inspired terror attack at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia.

In one now-deleted tweet, she posted that “we need to take very seriously the need to begin the expulsion of Muslims from western nations, or at the very least the severe sanction of them within western borders.”

Under the settlement, Paladino will have to modify her account on X to remove “councilwoman” from her display name, and delete three tweets that are still up.

Paladino will also have to make a public statement.

“To be clear, my personal social-media posts were not directed at any Council Member or staff,” she will be required to post. “I am responsible for the content. I never intended to make Council Members or staff feel unwelcome or unsafe in their work environment. I send a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to the court for facilitating this resolution.”

Councilmember Sandra Ung, the chair of the ethics committee, is also required to post that she believes “the resolution strikes the right balance between protection of council staff and the First Amendment liberties of council members.”

Paladino was represented by Jim Walden, a failed 2025 mayoral candidate. He argued in at least one hearing that the tempest was a free speech issue, and provided examples of other Council members posting their own opinions about police officers or, in some cases, white people.

This press release was produced by The City. The views expressed here are the author’s own.