How Sabrina Carpenter Accidentally Powered Zohran Mamdani’s New York Victory

Every so often, pop culture and New York politics collide in a way that feels like a plot twist the writers room would cut for being too on the nose. This is one of those. The short version: a music video in a Brooklyn church led to church discipline, which some people say drew federal eyes, which then supposedly snowballed into a mayoral shakeup that helped Zohran Mamdani. Emphasis on supposedly. Here is how the internet has connected the dots — and what is actually on the record.

The quick timeline, because this gets twisty

• Oct 31, 2023: Sabrina Carpenter drops the music video for 'Feather,' with scenes filmed inside Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The Diocese of Brooklyn is not amused. Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello, a senior figure in the diocese, is stripped of administrative duties, and he apologizes to parishioners afterward.
• September 2024: Carpenter plays Madison Square Garden and leans into the chatter that her video somehow set a much bigger investigation in motion.
• October 2024: New York State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani (a Democratic Socialist) announces he is running for NYC mayor.
• Late 2024: Eric Adams is indicted on federal charges that include bribery, fraud, and allegedly soliciting foreign campaign donations. Months later, in April 2025, the case is dropped. Adams announces an independent re-election bid, then backs out after the campaign stalls amid a steady stream of bad headlines.
• June 2025: Mamdani wins the Democratic primary in a surprise over Andrew Cuomo, building momentum into November.

Sabrina, the joke, and the theory

At MSG in September 2024, Carpenter cracked a line that poured gasoline on an already smoldering fan theory that her video kicked off a chain reaction.

"Should we talk about how I got the mayor indicted, or?"

Obviously a joke — but it matched what people had been posting for months: that the video put church leadership under the microscope, which then supposedly widened into a broader probe that touched City Hall.

What actually happened with the church

The 'Feather' video features Carpenter dancing around the altar in a revealing black dress, coffins in the frame, and darkly comedic lyrics about men getting their comeuppance. After it dropped, Bishop Robert Brennan said the diocese was appalled and made it clear the parish did not follow required review policies for filming on church property. Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello, who oversees development in the diocese, lost administrative duties and told parishioners he did not realize how provocative the shoot would be and believed much of it would be filmed outside the church.

Separate from the video controversy, Gigantiello faced allegations of mishandling nearly $2 million in parish funds, and federal investigators reportedly scrutinized some of his dealings, including connections to Frank Carone, who previously served as chief of staff to Mayor Eric Adams. That is where the fan-built domino trail starts: if the church flap put Gigantiello on the FBI’s radar, and if that widened into a look at City Hall, then maybe that helped trigger the Adams indictment. To date, officials have not said the video had anything to do with any federal investigation. The diocese, for its part, has said it will not comment while its internal review is ongoing and that it is cooperating with law enforcement wherever needed.

The politics part, minus the wishful thinking

Adams’ legal saga dominated the race. After his late-2024 federal indictment, the charges were dropped in April 2025. He tried to reboot as an independent, but the campaign fizzled and he withdrew. That vacuum boosted Mamdani’s bid. He is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, and his surprise June 2025 primary win over Andrew Cuomo signaled that voters were ready for a change. By November, he rode that wave into City Hall.

So did Sabrina Carpenter swing the election?

Fun theory, great joke, fascinating coincidence. But there is no official confirmation connecting a pop video to a federal case to a mayoral election. What we have is: a controversial church shoot, diocesan discipline, reported federal interest in a priest’s finances and contacts, a mayor’s indictment that was later dropped, a chaotic race, and a candidate who capitalized on the moment. The internet stitched those together; the paperwork has not.

Either way, the path from a two-and-a-half-minute video to a mayor’s office is one heck of a New York story.