The world’s greatest and most influential poets can be found in the annals of history—and now in a viral Kalshi interview.
The New York Knicks are in the NBA finals for the first time since 1999, a feat that has elated the city and turned its streets the hues of its home team.
But it’s not just the team’s orange-and-blue colorway that is uniting New Yorkers across the five boroughs. It’s a viral fan chant:
My mayor Muslim
My bagel’s Jewish
My Christian Dior
Knicks in four
The bars were dropped by Jamaica, Queens, native MD Ahnaf Hossain following the Knicks’ Game 1 victory, during an interview with prediction market Kalshi—which frequents sporting events to catch a glimpse at fan reactions.
The rally call is a nod to various NYC icons, including Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the Jewish influence in the city’s cuisine, and Brooklyn rapper Pop Smoke’s lyrics.
Given that much of the city is as ecstatic over the Knicks as Hossain is in the video, the chant quickly spread like wildfire, with the phrase reaching political messaging, a music stage and, of course, merch.
Shekar Krishnan, a City Council member for the city’s 25th District, took the stage at Gov Ball, a music festival in Queens, to join in on the trend.
“Gov Ball, I got one thing for you,” he said before beginning the chant. Upon reaching the final line, the crowd had already joined in, screaming in unison: “Knicks in four.”
Congressional candidate Brad Lander also chimed in on Instagram, switching the wording for self-promotion. “My mayor Muslim, our future Congressmember Jewish,” the video said.
“Knicks in four” didn’t happen
The chant’s popularity wasn’t enough to get the team over the finish line—not yet, at least. The Knicks lost Game 3 of the finals to the San Antonio Spurs on Monday, meaning the best-of-seven series will continue through at least five games.
But the spirits of fans have not yet taken a hit, instead taking the loss as a prompt to come up with their own renditions of the chant, one that accounts for the lost game.
“My mayor is Muslim, My bagels are Jewish, My Pope hates AI, Knicks in five,” one user said on X, referencing Pope Leo XIV’s recent encyclical.
Others stuck to the food theme, with one user saying: “My mayor is Muslim, my bagels are Jewish, my cream cheese chive, Knicks in five.”
As the phrase continues to gain cultural relevance, some commenters on social media have come to question how the phrase rose in popularity in the first place.
“It’s funny the whole ‘my mayor is Muslim’ Knicks thing is just a Kalshi psyop,” a user said on X.
While Kalshi’s person-on-the-street interviews usually spotlight random fans outside of sport venues, the company has not been shy capitalizing on Hossain’s viral success, bringing him on for a separate sit-down interview in which the company gifted him a Dior scarf.
Either way, the phrase has become a symbol of a thriving city united by diversity—something that may seem at odds with growing tensions and political polarization elsewhere.
For Hossein, that was meant to be the message. “I grew up in Jamaica, Queens, which is a melting pot of culture, and I really wanted to bring people together with what I was saying,” he told Kalshi.
“It’s really the way that this guy was just casually being interviewed on the street and he spits pure poetry,” a user said on TikTok. “The fact that regardless of your background . . . we’re all neighbors, we all come together, we all help each other, we all root for the same team.”
Another TikTok creator echoed the sentiment: “[This] Knicks clip . . . exemplifies everything New York is and everything that everybody else is scared of.”
He added: “The rest of the world and the rest of the country who questions whether progressive leadership, diverse leadership, human-centric leadership really works—they get to watch a city that is built on a foundation of diversity.”
