Was George Clooney ‘very upset’ about Mamdani’s NYC wealth tax?

In August 2026, a rumor spread online that actor George Clooney was “very upset” about New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s wealth tax on second homes in the city, allegedly saying “it’s gotten way out of hand.”

For example, on August 17, one X user posted a screenshot featuring the claim, which included text that read (archived):

George Clooney’s $25+ million penthouse in NYC is technically his “second home,” because whenever he comes to NYC to shoot or direct, he uses this residence—and therefore it falls under Mamdani’s wealth tax.

Mr. Clooney is apparently very upset about Mamdani’s wealth tax. He said in a podcast that he does a lot of charity work and considers himself exempt from the wealth tax, but he still received a letter from the Mamdani government demanding that he pay it.

Mr. Clooney said, “I voted for Mamdani to help out the poor and was ready to bear a little communism, but it’s gotten way out of hand.”

(X)

The story spread as wealthy New Yorkers pushed back against Mamdani’s “Pied-à-Terre Tax,” claiming its rollout has been disorganized. The tax aims to target those who own second homes worth $5 million or more. Mamdani’s office received particular backlash after the Department of Finance published a list naming all property owners who would potentially be required to pay the tax, including celebrities like former Vogue editor Anna Wintour and actor Cynthia Nixon, a vocal Mamdani supporter.

Although Clooney and his wife, Amal Clooney, reportedly purchased a luxury apartment in Midtown, New York City, in 2016, it is unclear whether they are NYC homeowners, as of this writing.

Some users seemed to believe the rumor that Clooney was one of the wealthy celebrities resisting the tax. Snopes readers contacted us to investigate its legitimacy.

In short, the fabricated story stemmed from a satire site. No evidence could be found of Clooney publicly saying, “I voted for Mamdani to help out the poor and was ready to bear a little communism, but it’s gotten way out of hand.” Given some posts omitted the satire label when sharing the rumor, we concluded that this claim originated as satire.

A Facebook account called The Satire liners first posted the copypasta — that featured in the above X post — on Aug. 16, 2026 (archived).

To investigate the rumor’s legitimacy, we first used search engines such as DuckDuckGo, Bing and Yahoo to search for the quote purportedly attributed to Clooney. If the actor had really made such a public comment about Mamdani, journalists with reputable news outlets, such as The Associated Press or Reuters, would have likely reported on it, and those search inquiries would have uncovered such evidence. 

That was not the case. We did not find any credible reporting indicating Clooney said Mamdani’s policies had “gotten way out of hand.”

To note its satirical nature, The Satire liners’ post includes a digitally added watermark that is also visible in other accounts’ posts featuring the claim. That marking is not visible in every post found online. The watermark features the account’s profile image and text that reads, “Nothing on this page is real. If you believe anything we post then you’re potato crop.”

The Satire liners’ Facebook bio similarly reads (archived), “We post only SATIRE stories. Nothing on this page is Real.”

(Facebook)

The satirical account contains numerous fictitious stories based on real events or people. For example, another post claims actor Denzel Washington said, “Mamdani is pro-communist and supports Sharia law. He has lost his damn mind.”

For further reading, in August 2026, Snopes alerted readers to a claim with similar satirical origins about shoppers at Mamdani’s NYC-run grocery stores requiring a “special mark” on their hand or forehead.

Sources