Kathy Hochul Wore a Headscarf Days Before 9/11 Anniversary. But the Viral Graphic Uses the Wrong Photo

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul did cover her head during a visit to a Manhattan Islamic center on Aug. 28, 2026. But the viral graphic circulating online appears to use a photograph from a completely different event in 2025, while also presenting Hochul’s remarks in a more sweeping way than she actually made them.

A viral graphic from The Western Journal claims that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul “wears hijab 2 weeks before 9/11” and “claims it used to be standard in this country.” The image has circulated amid a political fight over religion, feminism, immigration and the approaching 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The underlying event is real. The photograph in the graphic, however, is not from that event.

That distinction matters.

Hochul really did cover her head at a mosque

On Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, Hochul visited the Islamic Cultural Center of New York on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

She attended Friday prayers, addressed members of the congregation and toured the center's school. Video from the visit shows her wearing a black head covering while speaking inside the prayer area. The center itself is a religious and cultural nonprofit at 1711 Third Avenue.

Aug. 28 was exactly 14 days before Sept. 11, meaning the graphic's “2 weeks before 9/11” timing is essentially correct.

The visit subsequently became a national political controversy after footage was posted online and attracted millions of views.

But the viral graphic appears to use a 2025 photograph

This is the most important problem with the image.

The photograph used in the graphic is credited to Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images. The same photograph is identified by The Western Journal itself as showing Hochul departing the July 31, 2025 funeral of slain NYPD officer Didarul Islam in the Bronx.

That was more than a year before the Aug. 28, 2026 Islamic Cultural Center visit.

The 2025 photograph was taken at the funeral of Officer Didarul Islam, a Muslim NYPD officer killed in the July 2025 Midtown Manhattan mass shooting. Hochul wore a headscarf at that funeral as a gesture of respect to Islam's family and faith. CBS New York and other contemporary reports documented the occasion.

So the graphic combines 2026 text with a 2025 photograph.

That does not make the underlying 2026 event false, but it makes the graphic materially misleading as a piece of visual news.

Was it actually a “hijab”?

There is another important distinction.

Social-media posts and political commentators have generally called what Hochul wore a hijab. Fact-checking of the circulating footage, however, found that she wore a black headscarf but that some of her hair remained visible. That differs from the traditional form of hijab being described in the viral claim. Snopes rated the broader claim that she “wore a hijab” as a mixture of true and false elements.

For that reason, “headscarf” is the more precise description of what can be established from the available photographs and video.

This distinction is not merely semantic. A headscarf can be worn by a visitor as a gesture of respect without the wearer adopting Islam or making a religious declaration.

What did Hochul mean by “used to be standard”?

This is where the graphic's wording is particularly important.

After President Donald Trump attacked her over the photograph, Hochul responded on Sept. 2:

“I was a guest in a Muslim house of worship and showed respect for the people who welcomed me.”

She continued:

“That used to be standard in this country before you came along.”

She then said she would not apologize for treating people of any faith with dignity.

The context indicates that Hochul was talking about showing respect for people and religious customs when visiting a house of worship, not claiming that American women historically wore Islamic head coverings as a standard practice.

That is a meaningful difference.

The viral graphic compresses the episode into “wears hijab ... claims it used to be standard,” which can leave readers with the impression that Hochul specifically said wearing a hijab used to be standard in America.

She did not.

Trump turned the photograph into a political attack

The controversy escalated on Sept. 1 when Trump posted the photograph on Truth Social.

Trump described Hochul as “the Worst Governor in the Country” and accused her of “working hard to get the Arab Vote.” He also tied the issue to New York City's congestion-pricing policy and wrote that she wore the hijab for the people whose votes she was seeking.

Hochul responded the following day, defending the visit as an act of religious respect and accusing Trump and his supporters of Islamophobia.

The exchange therefore became considerably broader than a question about clothing. It became part of the increasingly heated political contest between Trump and Hochul.

Why the 9/11 timing has become politically significant

The timing is particularly sensitive because Sept. 11, 2026, marks 25 years since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Hochul is also facing Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman in the 2026 New York governor's race. The state Board of Elections lists Hochul and Blakeman as the Democratic and Republican nominees, respectively.

Blakeman has attacked Hochul over the headscarf, calling the timing before the 9/11 anniversary inappropriate. Newsday reported that Muslim leaders in Nassau County criticized Blakeman's comments as contributing to anti-Muslim sentiment.

The dispute therefore arrives in the middle of an election campaign in which both sides have strong incentives to frame the controversy differently.

Hochul has worn a headscarf before

This is not the governor's first appearance in a Muslim religious setting with her head covered.

In July 2025, Hochul attended the funeral of NYPD Officer Didarul Islam at Parkchester Jame Masjid in the Bronx. She wore a headscarf during the service.

When Sen. Ted Cruz criticized the decision, Hochul responded that she had worn it to honor the fallen officer and respect his grieving family's faith. Other elected officials and police leaders also wore head coverings at the funeral.

That earlier incident is actually the source of the photograph used in the new viral graphic.

In other words, the image is not fabricated, but it has been repurposed.

Wearing religious attire at a house of worship is not unprecedented

There is also historical precedent for Western political figures adjusting their clothing when visiting religious sites.

Former first lady Laura Bush wore a head covering while visiting the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem in 2005.

Former first lady Michelle Obama wore a headscarf while visiting Indonesia's Istiqlal Mosque in 2010. The archived White House records her visit to the mosque with President Barack Obama.

Those examples do not establish that such clothing is universally required of non-Muslim visitors. Rather, they demonstrate that Western political figures have sometimes adapted their attire to religious settings or local customs.

That context supports Hochul's argument that her decision was an act of courtesy, although it does not settle the political question of whether voters consider the gesture appropriate.

The “Arab vote” claim is a separate allegation

Trump's suggestion that Hochul was wearing the headscarf to attract Arab voters is a political interpretation, not an established fact.

The image itself provides no evidence that the governor's motivation was electoral.

Hochul has said her motivation was respect for the people who invited her and the religious setting. ABC7 reported that she explained that she tries to wear appropriate attire when visiting different religious communities, citing visits to temples, Orthodox communities and Catholic churches as examples.

That leaves the question of motivation as a political dispute rather than something that can be conclusively established from the photograph.

What the viral graphic gets right — and what it gets wrong

What it gets right:

• Hochul did visit the Islamic Cultural Center of New York on Aug. 28, 2026.
• She did cover her head with a black headscarf while inside the prayer area.
• The visit occurred exactly two weeks before the Sept. 11 anniversary.
• Hochul subsequently said that showing respect for people of different faiths “used to be standard in this country.”

What it gets wrong or obscures:

• The photograph is from July 31, 2025, not the Aug. 28, 2026 visit.
• Calling the garment a traditional hijab is imprecise because some of Hochul's hair was visible.
• Hochul's “used to be standard” comment referred to showing respect for people and religious customs, rather than saying Islamic head-covering itself was historically standard American practice.
• Trump's claim that Hochul wore it to win Arab votes is an allegation, not a demonstrated fact.

The controversy is ultimately about more than a headscarf

The photograph has become a political symbol because it intersects with several unusually sensitive issues at once: the 25th anniversary of 9/11, debates over Islam and religious accommodation, women's rights, immigration and New York's gubernatorial election.

Hochul's defenders see the head covering as ordinary religious courtesy. Critics see it as an unnecessary political gesture that is particularly inappropriate so close to the 9/11 anniversary.

The evidence supports a narrower conclusion.

Hochul really did cover her head at a New York Islamic center two weeks before the 25th anniversary of 9/11. She really did defend the gesture as respect for another faith. But the viral graphic uses a photograph from a different event in 2025 and turns her broader statement about religious respect into something that sounds like a claim about the historical normality of wearing a hijab.

Fact-check verdict: Mostly Misleading

The underlying event is real, but the graphic is visually and contextually misleading. The biggest factual flaw is the use of a 2025 funeral photograph to illustrate a 2026 mosque visit. The “hijab” description is also imprecise, and Hochul's “used to be standard” statement was about religious courtesy rather than a claim that wearing Islamic head coverings was historically standard in America.