‘Don’t Make Me Hold a F*cking Groundhog’: Bill de Blasio Still Regrets Dropping Groundhog Which Then Died

AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said this week that he regretted dropping the infamous groundhog in 2014, which died a week after the incident, though he blamed handlers for handing it to him in the first place.

In an interview published on Wednesday, New York Magazine asked de Blasio whether he had “any regrets about dropping the groundhog” at Staten Island Zoo’s Groundhog Day event in 2014 — an incident that sparked controversy after it was reported that the animal, named Charlotte, ended up dying just a week later.

“Yeah. 100 percent,” de Blasio responded. “I’m like, ‘Don’t make me hold a fucking groundhog.’ I mean, what the hell?”

De Blasio blamed the drop on the fact that it was an early morning, “which means my motor skills are not at their best,” and revealed he had not expected to be given the animal to hold:

I put on these gloves, and they’re like, “Here’s a groundhog,” I’m like, “What the fuck?” I’m like, “Don’t you have a little more coaching to go with this or whatever?” It was idiocy. Why would you want an elected official to hold a groundhog? I don’t know anything about holding groundhogs. So the whole thing is just insane. There’s an original sin here. Don’t hand someone a groundhog, right?

While the groundhog was determined to be in good health after it plummeted from de Blasio’s hands, it was found dead in its enclosure just a week later.