The New York Knicks issued a formal cease-and-desist letter Thursday to Democrat mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani after his campaign aired an advertisement during the Knicks' season opener featuring a modified version of the team's iconic orange-and-blue logo, The New York Post reports.
Mamdani's campaign aired the advertisement Wednesday night during the opening game of the Knicks' season. The altered logo appeared on screen and was later posted by Mamdani on social media with the caption, "This is our year. This is our time." In the ad, the word "Knicks" was replaced with "Zohran."
The letter, obtained by The Post, states that Mamdani's ad is "likely to mislead the public into believing that the Campaign is affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by, or in some way connected with" the Knicks.
The team is demanding that the candidate remove all use of the Knicks' intellectual property from his campaign or promotional materials.
A team spokesperson said in a statement, "We want to make it clear that we do not endorse Mr. Mamdani for Mayor, and we object to his use of our copyrighted logo."
The statement added, "We will pursue all legal remedies to enforce our rights" if Mamdani's campaign does not respond to the Knicks' demand promptly, by removing or altering any use of the altered logo.
"Adjustments are being made to the ad and while the Knicks might not be able to publicly support our campaign, we're proud to publicly support our NY Knicks," Dora Pekec, a spokesperson for Mamdani's campaign, said in a statement.