Richard Hanania

Portrait of Richard Hanania
Werner Zagrebbi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsSourceCC BY-SA 4.0Cropped by a Wikimedia Commons contributor from a wider photo; DI uses the cropped Commons file unchanged.

Richard Hanania is an American political scientist and writer. He is founder and president of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology and the author of The Origins of Woke and Kakistocracy, and he writes a newsletter on politics and policy.

What we have documented

We have documented 1 statement by Richard Hanania, in 1 case. Each statement below gives the quotation, its original source and a link to the full case.

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Statements by Richard Hanania

Portrait of Richard Hanania

Richard Hanania

Role at the time: Political scientist and founder of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology, posting on his X account

Condemned

Statement summary

Hanania quote-posts Wexler's roast clip, contrasts it with the comedy of Seinfeld and Larry David, and says everything becomes dumber and worse when it is right wing.

“Can't believe this is the same race that gave us Seinfeld and Larry David. Everything becomes dumber and worse when it's right wing.”
Read the original post (opens in a new tab)Richard Hanania's X post of Nov. 13, 2026, 15:03 · Richard HananiaX post of Nov. 13, 2026, 15:03 UTC, full text
Why we used this label

Hanania criticizes Wexler's jokes about Mamdani and Duwaji as poor comedy that falls short of Seinfeld and Larry David and blames their right-wing politics, which condemns the jokes; he does not address whether they are anti-Muslim.

A participant is a subject of the case. A speaker has a statement documented in it. A commentator has an opinion or editorial documented in it.

Case

Comedian Arynne Wexler's roast jokes about Zohran Mamdani and Rama Duwaji draw Islamophobia charges; Piers Morgan calls them "disgusting"

Relationship to this case: Speaker

At Commentary magazine's annual roast, comedian Arynne Wexler joked that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani bought his wife, Rama Duwaji, when she was 12. Piers Morgan called the jokes disgusting, critics called them Islamophobic, and Will Chamberlain said she did nothing wrong.

IslamophobiaArts and CulturePublished

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