Statue of Liberty Spotted Crying, Possibly Due to Rent Control Policy

In a stunning visual captured by a Staten Island ferry tourist, the Statue of Liberty appeared to shed a single copper tear. Experts believe the cause may be Councilman Zohran Mamdani’s rent control proposals.

Lady Liberty, long a symbol of welcome and hope, now reportedly whispers “Bring me your tired, your poor… but maybe not your zoning laws.”

A team of historians confirmed the tear was not due to sea spray, but “actual structural despair.” One structural engineer said, “She hasn’t wept since the 1977 blackout.”

Mamdani dismissed the spectacle as “reactionary architecture.” He added, “If statues could vote, they’d vote public housing.”

But a Liberty Island tour guide overheard the statue mutter: “Even France had rent.”

Tenants’ unions rallied in support of Mamdani. “She’s crying tears of joy,” insisted a protestor. “Or possibly salt corrosion.”

Meanwhile, landlords projected ads onto her robe reading “Freeze Rent, Freeze Hope.”

A coalition of Ellis Island ghosts released a statement: “We came for freedom, not frozen leases.”

Later, the statue was spotted draped in a protest banner reading, “Rents So High, Even I’m Homeless.”

Mamdani has announced a new initiative: converting the statue’s crown into a micro-apartment with communal Wi-Fi.

The statue declined comment, citing exhaustion.