Cleveland Heights Mayor Kahlil Seren breaks silence on wife's alleged antisemitic remarks

Days after his wife was accused of making various antisemitic remarks , Cleveland Heights Mayor Kahlil Seren broke his public silence on Wednesday, expressing solidarity with the Jewish people while calling the overall claims made in a recent federal complaint "false."

In a 15-minute statement posted to social media, Seren defended both himself and his wife — Natalie McDaniel — from charges of bigotry against the city's Orthodox Jewish community. He asserted that many of the purported conversations and remarks were "altered" or taken out of context, and alleged that the former city employee who made the claims only did so after Seren rejected his offer to stay quiet in exchange for $300,000 and a job recommendation.

"It is incredibly disappointing that he would make these false accusations and put targets on our backs," Seren said of the ex-employee, who worked as an aide in the mayor's office.

Please watch my statement on the recent false accusation of Jewish hatred. #EndJewishHatred

Posted by Mayor Kahlil Seren on Wednesday, May 21, 2025

The bombshell allegations first came to light last week in the form of a complaint filed with both the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Ohio Civil Rights Commission. The documents accuse McDaniel of making a number of antisemitic and offensive remarks both inside City Hall and in text message chains that included her husband, such as labeling the Orthodox Jewish chair of the City Planning Commission as a "brood mare" and allegedly referring to a resident as "that Jewish b----." The complaint also says McDaniel targeted Cleveland Heights' Taylor neighborhood, home to many of the city's Orthodox Jewish citizens.

Seren began his video message by recounting his past experiences with and love for the Jewish community, noting that his own godmother is Jewish and that his wife grew up in Taylor, "playing with Orthodox Jewish kids on the block (and) developing friendships with Jewish people throughout her life."

"One area where my wife and I are in very clear alignment is in our shared belief that anti-Jewish hatred and antisemitism, as described in the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) working definition , has no place in our community or any other," Seren declared. "We are not claiming that because we have Jewish friends that we are immune to the impact of being socialized in America, but I offer our backgrounds to impress upon you that any accusation of either of us hating the Jewish people is false."

Seren stated that "there are certain things that I cannot responsibly reveal about the city's response to this," but did make an effort to address some specific accusations made in the EEOC complaint. He denied that either he or his wife accused former councilmen Mike Ungar and Jason Stein of "put(ting) their allegiance to the Orthodox Jewish community in Cleveland Heights above all else," as was stated in the filing, stating that Ungar isn't even Orthodox and that any conversations "had nothing to do with religious or ethnic loyalty or allegiance."

Most notably, however, Seren admitted that McDaniel did refer to City Planning Commission Chair Jessica Cohen as a "brood mare" in what he described as a "private personal characterization." In Seren's own words, "Cohen has exhibited behaviors toward me that, in my view, invoked the racist trope of the 'Mandingo' — a reduction of Black man to physicality without intellect," so his wife "dolled out a creative shorthand for her (Cohen) ... assigning the corresponding term 'broodmare' to Ms. Cohen to reframe that power dynamic and help reduce the negative impact of that experience on me."

"This private, personal characterization was in response to Ms. Cohen's actions, and was never a statement about Jewish people — Orthodox or otherwise," Seren said, instead tracing the term's origins back to American Slavery. "(It) was never intended to be shared or to embarrass Ms. Cohen publicly."

Since the allegations were made public, Seren has faced multiple calls to resign. He declined to directly address the matter at Monday's city council meeting, and acknowledged that it took him longer than most would've hoped for him to make a statement.

"I don't have any excuse for my silence until now," he said. "Just an apology, and an admission that this has taken a toll on me and my family which has made it nearly impossible to put how we feel into words."

He also stated that his wife has faced various threats in the last week, and that law enforcement "had to pay a visit to a man who threatened to come to our home on Monday."

"Some of you may not care that we're dealing with abuse, harassment, and now threat as a result of an unproven accusation, but I that enough of you can see a path toward more empathy and understanding to allow us to move forward together."

He continued: "Natalie and I love the Jewish people in our lives, and we love the Jewish people in pretty much the same way we love our own people. We believe that we are in this together, even when it doesn't feel that way."