The British newspaper the Times has apologized and deleted an article after discovering its reporter had been duped by someone pretending to be Bill de Blasio, the former mayor of New York City.
The newspaper removed the article from its website after the real De Blasio released a statement calling the quotes attributed to him “entirely false and fabricated” and lambasted the Times for its “absolute violation of journalistic ethics”.
A man purporting to be De Blasio gave senior reporter Bevan Hurley a series of quotes criticising Zohran Mamdani, the frontrunner in the current mayoral race, ahead of the vote next Tuesday.
“While the ambition is admirable, the cost estimates – reportedly exceeding $7bn annually – rest on optimistic assumptions about eliminating waste and raising revenue through new taxes,” the impostor told the paper. “In my view, the math doesn’t hold up under scrutiny, and the political hurdles are substantial.”
The quotes would have been revelatory coming from De Blasio, who has feuded publicly with the independent candidate Andrew Cuomo, Mamdani’s opponent. De Blasio has been one of Mamdani’s most enthusiastic supporters, penning a New York Daily News op-ed in September praising his “bold sweeping” agenda and wearing a “Hot Girls for Zohran” T-shirt at recent rallies.
In a statement, the Times apologized. “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,” it said.
The New York Post picked up the Times story before it was taken down, leading with the fabricated quotes, though later updating its article after De Blasio revealed the deception. A Cuomo spokesperson shared the article on social media, calling Mamdani’s proposals “glitter and vibes”.
The Times and Hurley did not respond to requests for comment.
Mamdani has faced a particular vicious campaign in the race’s final days, despite widespread calls to lower hateful rhetoric following Charlie Kirk’s killing. The conservative New York radio host Sid Rosenberg suggested in an interview with Cuomo that Mamdani would be “cheering” on the 9/11 attacks if they happened while he was mayor, and has not let up on his social media barrage.
The populist rightwing host Steve Bannon also described Mamdani’s ideology as “Marxism with radical jihadist sharia supremacism,” while the talkshow host and former Fox News journalist Megyn Kelly claimed she “actually believe[s]” that Mamdani “doesn’t give a shit that we were attacked by Muslim terrorists on 9/11”.
