Elon Musk criticized New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani over his decision to appoint Lillian Bonsignore as the next commissioner of the Fire Department of the City of New York, warning the move could pose public safety risks. Musk said the appointment raised concerns because Bonsignore, who previously led the department’s emergency medical services division, does not have operational firefighting experience, the New York Post reported.
“People will die because of this,” the Tesla and SpaceX founder predicted on X Friday night, responding to a post with a video clip highlighting that Bonsignore has never fought fires. “Proven experience matters when lives are at stake.”
Bonsignore, who served as an emergency medical technician with the FDNY for 31 years before retiring in 2022, is set to become only the second woman to lead New York’s Bravest in the department’s history. As a trailblazer in the LGBTQ community, she will also be the FDNY’s first openly gay commissioner, The Post revealed.
Her appointment has garnered support from the three unions representing city firefighters, FDNY officers, and medics.
Musk’s online post about the appointment attracted over 25 million views within the first 24 hours and received more than 184,000 likes, sparking widespread discussion and questions regarding the decision.
“Here we go again,” lawyer and longtime TV media personality Megyn Kelly noted on the X platform, per The Post.
“Zohran Mamdani appointed Lillian Bonsignore as new FDNY Commissioner. Only problem is…she’s never been a firefighter. Word of advice, you can’t put out fires with rainbow flags,” said conservative Infowars talk-show host Breanna Morello on X.
“This is a freaking train wreck,” Eric Daugherty, chief content officer for RightLine News, added. “Glad I don’t live in NYC.”
Bonsignore will start heading America’s largest fire department after Mamdani is sworn in Jan.1, The Post noted.
On Tuesday, Bonsignore was appointed following Mayor Eric Adams’ announcement of a new fire commissioner who will oversee the last days of his administration at City Hall. Mark Guerra, previously serving as the interim commissioner, has been named to replace Robert Tucker, who resigned last month.
Mamdani shot back at Musk, saying on X “experience does matter, which is why I appointed the person who spent more than 30 years at EMS.”
“You know, the workforce that addresses at least 70% of all calls coming into FDNY?” added the mayor-elect.
Meanwhile, rap artist Mysonne Linen, who previously served seven years in state prison for armed robbery, repeatedly mispronounced Mamdani’s last name during an appearance on The Breakfast Club, a New York City-based morning radio program, earlier this month.
Mamdani recently named Linen to his transition team’s criminal legal system committee—though even that rollout appeared sloppy, with Linen’s name misspelled on the official roster as “Mysoone.”
During the interview, Mysonne Linen cycled through several pronunciations of Mamdani’s last name, none of which appeared to be correct, underscoring the casual unseriousness surrounding the mayor-elect’s transition operation, according to The Daily Caller.
“I really just want to focus on just doing this work. Shout out to Mayor Mandami and his team. My team, Until Freedom, we’ve been doing this work … I’m not getting no check for this,” Linen said. “This is a volunteer because I really believe in what’s supposed to be going on in our communities. We’re going to start forums where we talk about civic engagement with formerly incarcerated, we talk about how hard it is for them to be employed, the collateral damages and causes that happen.”
“We want to talk about those things, and then we want to talk about what’s the next step forward. Women that’s being incarcerated — We’re going to start these convenings and we’re going to have them all at the table,” he continued.
“Like, that is one of the biggest voting blocks in the world that nobody has really tapped into. Formerly incarcerated people — a lot of them don’t even realize they can vote, how strong they are. It’s millions of people who are formerly incarcerated that have really just lost belief in the system,” he added.
