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For more than a decade, a Long Island wine importer named Bill DeBlasio has been receiving emails meant for another man with a near-identical name: former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Last week, he decided to respond – inadvertently setting off an international news cycle based on misinformation in the final days of New York City’s mayoral election.
After receiving an email from a reporter with the Times of London asking for his – well, de Blasio’s – thoughts on Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, DeBlasio replied with a four paragraph critique of the candidate’s agenda, which the real ex-mayor has enthusiastically endorsed.
“I did some research on the proposals and I wrote down my thoughts and used ChatGPT to do a little fine-tuning,” DeBlasio, 59, told the Associated Press. “Then I forgot about it and went on vacation. I never thought it would make it into the news.”
But it did.
Read moreZohran Mamdani: NYC’s young mayoral hopeful rattles the Democratic establishment
In an exclusive story published online Tuesday night, the Times of London reported the former New York City mayor had now concluded that Mamdani’s ambitious agenda “doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.”
De Blasio, the politician, quickly disavowed the piece on social media. Within hours, it was deleted. The Times of London has since apologized, saying in a statement that its reporter had been “misled by an individual claiming to be the former New York mayor.”
DeBlasio, the wine importer – whose identity was first reported Thursday by Semafor – disputes the newspaper’s retelling.
“In no way shape or form did I call myself the mayor,” he said. “The reporter addressed me as Mr. DeBlasio and I answered him as Mr. DeBlasio. They accepted my quote without any vetting – now they’re blaming me?”
“I’ve been Bill DeBlasio for 59 years,” he continued. “My father has been Bill DeBlasio for 85 years. My son has been Bill DeBlasio for 30 years. It’s our name, you know?” (The other de Blasio has had his name for 64 years.)
He provided screenshots of the emails confirming the reporter had not specifically addressed his questions to the former mayor.
Still, DeBlasio acknowledged that he hadn’t gone out of his way to correct the misunderstanding: “I said if you have any further questions, speak with my advisers, and I put my friends’ names in there.”
“We all thought it was absolutely hilarious,” he added.
The ex-mayor does not share this view. In an op-ed published in The Nation on Thursday, he blamed the episode on a “hyperpartisan” journalism landscape where “standards of objectivity and decency are decaying week by week.”
A spokesperson for the Times of London said the outlet would not be commenting further on the mix-up.
DeBlasio, of Long Island, meanwhile, said the prank felt like fair payback for years of harassment he has endured as a result of his nominal link to the two-term mayor.
“I’ve had thousands of interactions with people, angry, mean, nasty people just saying the most horrible, horrific things,” he said. “It got to a point where I was getting messages every day telling me how horrible of a human being I am.”
At a New York Mets game years ago, DeBlasio briefly met de Blasio, who offered him an apology for the hate mail, he said.
Describing his own politics as “middle of the road” conservative, DeBlasio said he would likely support Mamdani’s opponent, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo if he were eligible to vote in the city.
“The real Bill DeBlasio endorses Cuomo,” he said. “You can print that.”
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
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