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A University of Michigan senior who trolled Michael Bloomberg at graduation had no idea the former mayor would praise him instead

Omar Mahmood
Omar Mahmood

(Omar Mahmood)
Omar Mahmood (center) with two of his friends at graduation.

Former New York City Mayor Bloomberg gave an impassioned graduation speech at the University of Michigan on Saturday, where he railed against colleges that cave to pressure for "safe spaces" because of "microaggressions."

At one point, he turned his attention to graduating senior Omar Mahmood to commend him for not caving to political correctness.

"I know that one of today's graduates, Omar Mahmood, has faced threats and intimidation because he dared to write political satire about being left-handed in the Michigan Daily and he refused to apologize for it," Bloomberg said during the speech.

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"Omar, wherever you are out there, I'm glad you stood your ground," he continued.

Ironically, Mahmood and his friends showed up at graduation with oversized sodas in hand to mock the former mayor.

"A couple friends and I were sipping 7-Eleven Big Gulps during the mayor's address in a cheeky protest against his ban on large sodas," Mahmood said.

He had no idea that Bloomberg's speech would praise the senior for a 2014 piece of political satire called "Do the Left Thing," written for The Michigan Review.

The piece centers on Mahmood, who identifies as "deeply culturally Muslim," taking an imaginary fall on the steps of the library and a "cis-gendered hetero upper-class man" offers to help him up. But Mahmood "waved his hand aside and got up of my own accord."

Mahmood wrote:

He shouted after me, "I was just trying to do the right thing!" The right thing... The right thing... I became so aware at that moment of the left hand that I had thrust out before falling, and suddenly my humanity was reduced to my handydnyss.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks to reporters after his meeting with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington, in this file photo taken February 27, 2013.  REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/Files
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks to reporters after his meeting with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington, in this file photo taken February 27, 2013. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/Files

(Thomson Reuters)
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave the commencement speech at the University of Michigan.

Mahmood, who wrote the piece in 20 minutes, says that he was guided by a desire to push back at extreme political correctness.

"I had been frustrated by the culture of stifling debate on campus through the guise of political correctness, of oversensitivity," he said. "I sought to make fun of it in a light-hearted way."

He still characterizes his words as tame, but many students on campus were outraged.

To start, the door to Mahmood's room was vandalized with hate messages. And Mahmood says that writing the piece also cost him his job at The Michigan Daily, the University of Michigan's student-run paper, where Mahmood also worked, in addition to the The Michigan Review, an independent paper where he published the story. The Daily did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"I've always stood for open dialogue, always questioning our assumptions and thinking critically about everything, and always pursuing the truth no matter how it makes us feel," said Mahmood, who holds conservative and liberal opinions.

Being singled out in front of thousands of classmates may have been intimidating for some students, especially since Mahmood had no forewarning that the former mayor had written him into his speech. But he took the commendation in stride.

"I was very humbled and moved by his words to me," he said. "He spoke about bridging gaps. He spoke about how we need to open doors, not build walls. He called out Trump. He called out Bernie. He called out demagoguery."

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