NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Will the real Bill de Blasio please stand up?
A New York man with the same name as the former NYC mayor told 1010 WINS on Thursday that a reporter from the Times of London got the two of them mixed up and then quoted his criticism of Zohran Mamdani’s policies.
The man quoted in the article, Bill DeBlasio, 59, is a wine importer from Long Island. He said the reporter “sent an email to Bill DeBlasio and asked my opinion, so I gave him my opinion.”
In an email, the reporter asked for DeBlasio’s “insights on Mr. Mamdani’s ambitious agenda, potential obstacles, and whether the sums add up.”
“He said, ‘Thank you, Mr. DeBlasio,’ or whatever,” the lesser-known DeBlasio said. “But not once did I say I was the mayor. Not once did he address me as mayor. He said, ‘Would you mind just giving me a few quotes?’”
“I went on ChatGPT—me and actually a buddy of mine—we came up with this thing. I tweaked it a little and I sent it back to him,” he added.
The former mayor—who strongly supports and has endorsed Mamdani—got word of the article shortly after its publication Tuesday and went on social media to demand the Times of London take the article down.
“It was just brought to my attention and I’m appalled. I never spoke to that reporter and never said those things. Those quotes aren’t mine, don’t reflect my views,” the ex-mayor wrote in one of several posts.
The paper later admitted its mistake and removed the story.