OOPS: Bill de Blasio Interview Mishap Caused By Embarrassing Tech Gaffe

AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

A momentary technological error led to a major media gaffe that made international headlines.

The Times of London had to retract a story this week that purported to quote former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio criticizing mayoral candidate and self-proclaimed Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, after the paper said its reporter was “misled” by an imposter de Blasio.

Mamdani is leading the race versus former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani, and Republican Curtis Sliwa.

Mamdani’s progressive politics have put him at odds with some factions of the Democratic establishment; House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) delayed endorsing until just a few days ago. That likely contributed to the amount of attention the original Times article got, reporting that de Blasio had apparently dunked on Mamdani by saying “the math doesn’t hold up under scrutiny” for his proposals. The New York Post amplified the Times report in its ongoing coverage that has been highly critical of Mamdani. Both papers are part of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.

And then even more attention came when de Blasio blasted the Times in a social media post saying the article was “entirely false and fabricated.”

“I never spoke to that reporter and never said those things,” de Blasio added. “Those quotes aren’t mine and don’t reflect my views.”

Soon after, the Times admitted their reporter had been “misled” and retracted the story.

On Wednesday, Semafor’s Max Tani reported additional details about how the mixup occurred.

The Times “rushed to print with the explosive story,” and its sister publication, the Post, “quickly aggregated and amplified it,” adding a quote from top Cuomo aide Melissa De Rosa, wrote Tani.

The error was a symptom of the pressure within Murdoch’s media companies, according to Tani, with even the London-based Times having “accelerated its push for more, and largely hostile, coverage of Mamdani.”

Times reporter Bevan Hurley “reached out to an email address the reporter believed belonged to the former mayor of New York,” wrote Tani, citing as sources “three people familiar with the situation.”

“It’s unclear where he got the address, or who it actually belongs to,” Tani added, and a spokesperson for the paper “blamed the debacle on whoever that email address belongs to,” for “falsely claiming” to be de Blasio.

As for de Blasio, he sent Tani a text message that he had never had anything like this happen to him in his quarter-century of politics.

“The Times’ error immediately garnered write-ups in the Washington Post, the New York Times, New York magazine, and other outlets,” Tani concluded. “As British publications continue to look towards expansion in the US, and try to muscle in on turf long occupied by the aggressive New York press corps, they may find American media competitors to be more than happy to point out their errors.”