Old Photo Shows Mamdani at NYC Luncheon Hosted by Epstein-Linked Hollywood Publicist

By: Jason Ostedder

A single photograph, taken nearly a decade ago in the polished glow of Manhattan’s awards-season circuit, has resurfaced amid the release of newly unsealed Justice Department records, pulling together strands of Hollywood, politics, and one of the most notorious criminal scandals of the modern era. The image shows New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani smiling at a high-profile luncheon hosted by Peggy Siegal, a once-dominant entertainment publicist later ostracized for her social proximity to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The photograph, dated November 15, 2017, was taken at Lincoln Ristorante during a celebratory event tied to Universal Pictures’ cultural phenomenon Get Out. As Fox News Digital reported on Sunday, the image has emerged days after Mamdani’s mother, acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair, was named in a newly released tranche of Epstein-related documents. Those records, unsealed on January 30, 2026, form part of a massive disclosure of Justice Department materials detailing Epstein’s sprawling social and professional network. The documents themselves do not allege criminal wrongdoing by the individuals mentioned within them, a caveat that Fox News Digital has repeatedly underscored in its coverage.

Still, the confluence of names, images, and timing has reignited scrutiny—less about alleged conduct, and more about proximity to power in elite social spaces that, in retrospect, appear increasingly fraught. According to the information provided in the Fox News Digital report, the 2017 luncheon was hosted by Siegal at the height of her influence as a Hollywood gatekeeper. At the time, Siegal was known for her unparalleled access to studios, awards voters, and A-list talent, a status that made her events magnets for filmmakers, actors, and cultural figures seeking visibility during Oscar season.

The luncheon itself celebrated Get Out, Jordan Peele’s searing directorial debut, which would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. In the photograph now circulating, Mamdani appears alongside actor Daniel Kaluuya, filmmaker Shimit Amin, and Nair, all gathered in a moment of professional camaraderie. A second image from the same event, also highlighted in the Fox News Digital report, shows Peele, producer Jason Blum, actress Allison Williams, and Siegal herself—underscoring the luncheon’s prominence on Hollywood’s social calendar.

At the time the photograph was taken, Siegal’s association with Epstein was not yet widely scrutinized. That would change dramatically two years later. As the Fox News Digital report noted, Siegal was never charged with a crime, but investigative reporting beginning in 2019 detailed her close social ties to Epstein, prompting a swift and decisive backlash within the entertainment industry. According to Variety, multiple studios—including Netflix, FX, and Annapurna Pictures—severed their relationships with her following those revelations.

The resurfacing of the luncheon photo coincides with renewed attention on Epstein’s orbit after the unsealing of Justice Department documents related to Epstein and his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is now serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for sex trafficking. The newly released records span millions of pages and include emails, contact lists, and references that illuminate the breadth of Epstein’s social reach. As the Fox News Digital report emphasized, the appearance of a name in these documents does not imply criminal conduct; rather, the records often document attendance at events or professional interactions.

One such example involves a 2009 email included in the release, in which Siegal wrote to Epstein regarding an after-party for the film Amelia, directed by Nair. The email states that the gathering took place at Maxwell’s Manhattan townhouse and lists attendees including former President Bill Clinton, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Nair. The correspondence records attendance only and does not allege misconduct by any of those named.

For Nair, the mention situates her within the elite cultural and philanthropic circles she has inhabited for decades. An internationally respected director known for films such as Salaam Bombay!, Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake, and Queen of Katwe, Nair has long been a fixture in Manhattan’s intellectual and artistic milieu. She is married to academic Mahmood Mamdani, and together they have moved comfortably within global cultural networks. Nair’s professional life has frequently intersected with powerful patrons, studios, and institutions—an environment in which Siegal once played a central role.

Another photograph cited in the Fox News Digital report, taken in December 2016, shows Nair attending a private-residence film event hosted by Siegal for Queen of Katwe. Again, the image captures a moment that, at the time, appeared unremarkable within Hollywood’s ecosystem of screenings and receptions. Only in retrospect, after Epstein’s 2019 death in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges, have such connections been re-examined through a harsher lens.

Epstein’s trajectory is by now grimly familiar. First arrested in Florida in 2006 on charges of procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute, he later pleaded guilty, served 13 months in jail with work release, and registered as a sex offender. More than a decade later, his arrest on federal charges reignited global outrage, culminating in his death in custody in August 2019. Maxwell’s subsequent conviction and sentencing further exposed the mechanisms through which Epstein cultivated access to wealth and influence.

Against that backdrop, the resurfacing of Mamdani’s photograph has drawn particular attention because of his current political role. As mayor of the nation’s largest city, Mamdani occupies a position far removed from the Hollywood circles of his past, yet the image underscores how intertwined elite social worlds can be. Fox News Digital reported that the mayor’s office has been contacted for comment, as has Siegal, though neither had responded at the time of publication.

Importantly, the Fox News Digital report also stressed that there is no allegation of wrongdoing against Mamdani stemming from the photograph or from any association with Siegal. The image documents attendance at a publicized industry event, not participation in illicit activity. Still, in an era of heightened sensitivity to issues of power, accountability, and proximity to scandal, such images can take on symbolic significance disproportionate to their original context.

The episode illustrates a broader phenomenon: how archival fragments—photographs, emails, guest lists—can be reinterpreted as public standards evolve. What once signified professional success or cultural relevance can later be scrutinized for what it reveals about access and exclusion. The Fox News Digital report framed the resurfaced photograph as part of this ongoing reassessment, rather than as evidence of misconduct.

For Siegal, the renewed attention serves as a reminder of her dramatic fall from grace. Once among the most influential publicists in Hollywood, she leveraged her relationships to shape awards campaigns and industry narratives. Her ties to Epstein, though not criminally charged, proved professionally fatal once exposed. The photograph with Mamdani, Nair, and Get Out’s creators captures Siegal at the zenith of that power, before the collapse that followed.

For Mamdani, the image is an artifact of a different chapter, when his public profile was defined less by municipal governance than by cultural engagement. The challenge for contemporary public figures is that such artifacts can resurface unpredictably, reframed by events far beyond their control.

Ultimately, the photograph’s re-emergence does not rewrite history, but it does complicate it. It reminds observers that elite networks—whether political, cultural, or financial—often overlap in ways that are invisible until scandal casts a harsh light. As Fox News Digital reported, the newly unsealed Epstein records are likely to prompt further moments of uncomfortable reflection, not because they allege new crimes, but because they map the social geography of power in an era that is increasingly unwilling to ignore it.

In that sense, the image from Lincoln Ristorante is less an indictment than a snapshot of a world that once operated unquestioned. Its significance lies not in what it proves, but in what it reveals about how closely art, influence, and authority have long been intertwined—and how, years later, those intersections continue to reverberate through politics and culture alike