Former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday that The Times, a British newspaper, ran an “entirely false and fabricated” interview with him criticizing Zohran Mamdani, and that he’s never communicated with the story’s author.
“It was just brought to my attention and I’m appalled. I never spoke to that reporter and never said those things. Those quotes aren’t mine, don’t reflect my views,” de Blasio, who endorsed Mamdani, New York City’s Democratic nominee for mayor, over a month ago, wrote on social media.
The story in The Times has since been taken down.
In a statement to The New York Times, the newspaper said someone had been impersonating de Blasio.
“The Times has apologised to Bill de Blasio and removed the article immediately after discovering that our reporter had been misled by an individual falsely claiming to be the former New York mayor,” the statement said.
Neither the newspaper nor the story’s author, senior reporter Bevan Hurley, immediately responded to HuffPost’s requests for further comment on the matter.
The story featured a shocking quote attributed to de Blasio about the cost of Mamdani’s policy proposals.
“While the ambition is admirable, the cost estimates —reportedly exceeding $7 billion annually — rest on optimistic assumptions… about eliminating waste and raising revenue through new taxes,” read quotes that The Times attributed to the former mayor. “In my view, the math doesn’t hold up under scrutiny, and the political hurdles are substantial.”
In a second post, de Blasio demanded The Times “pull down this story immediately,” calling it “an absolute violation of journalistic ethics.”
“The truth is I fully support [Mamdani] and believe his vision is both necessary and achievable,” de Blasio wrote.
According to a Semafor report published on Wednesday, The Times did interview someone named Bill DeBlasio for the story, but it was not the former mayor of New York City. The Times’ source turned out to be a Long Island wine importer who shares a name with the politician, though he spells his surname with a capital D.
DeBlasio responded to the reporter’s inquiry after he received an email and assumed the publication would notice the discrepancy before it went to print.
“I never once said I was the mayor. He never addressed me as the mayor,” DeBlasio told Semafor. “So I just gave him my opinion.”
The original Times story was quickly picked up by the New York Post, which has been publishing daily Mamdani hit pieces. The story led with The Times’ quotes, only including de Blasio’s denial several paragraphs in. The story and its headline were later altered to be about de Blasio refuting the quotes, but not before a Cuomo spokesperson shared it on X, saying: “Noted fiscal hawk Bill de Blasio gets around to reading [Mamdani’s] fine print (just kidding, there is no fine print, just glitter and vibes.)”
Hurley has published other stories highlighting criticism of Mamdani, including one vaguely titled “Mamdani accused of ‘stoking antisemitic hate’ in NYC mayoral debate.” That quote never appears in the story, though it seems to be a paraphrasing of comments from Mamdani’s opponent, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who accused his rival of “stoking the flames of hatred against Jewish people.”