The real Bill De Blasio is down for Zohran Mamdani and his economic vision for New York City.
After an individual impersonating De Blasio successfully duped a journalist with The Times of London into believing the former Democratic mayor was lashing out against the current Democratic nominee's proposals in an article published Tuesday, the real De Blasio, a consistent ally of Mamdani, was forced to speak out and correct the record.
“It was just brought to my attention and I’m appalled," De Blasio declared in a social media post. "I never spoke to that reporter and never said those things. Those quotes aren’t mine, don’t reflect my views."
De Blasio said he was "astounded" the article was published and called it "a complete fabrication."
"I demand The Times pull down this story immediately. It is an absolute violation of journalistic ethics," De Blasio added in a separate post. "The truth is I fully support Zohran Mamdani and believe his vision is both necessary and achievable."
The Times soon acknowledged the egregious error, took down the article, and issued an apology to the former mayor over the lapse in journalistic integrity.
“The Times has apologized 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,” read a statement by the newspaper.
The correction and apology, however, did not arrive fast enough to prevent the article and false statements from making a blitz across the internet. As the New York Times reports:
The fabricated article had quoted Mr. de Blasio as saying “in my view, the math doesn’t hold up under scrutiny, and the political hurdles are substantial.”
A spokesman for Mr. Mamdani’s main rival, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, shared a New York Post story about the interview on social media and said that Mr. de Blasio had read the “fine print” on Mr. Mamdani’s plans and found they were made only of “glitter and vibes.”
While Cuomo and other right-wing opponents of Mamdani have said the city, home to more than 120 billionaires and vast neighborhoods of the super-rich, cannot afford some of his proposal like free public transport, childcare, and other social programs to be subsidized by higher taxes on the rich, De Blasio said in the wake of the impersonation that he personally believes in the agenda laid out by Mamdani.
“I’ve said repeatedly that everything I’ve heard of Zohran’s vision is achievable,” DeBlasio said. “It may take time, but it’s achievable.”
