De Blasio Mix-Up Turns Reckless Reporting ‘Scoop’ Into Satire

In a story that perfectly captures the media’s chronic recklessness, a supposedly “explosive” scoop about former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio criticizing Democratic mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani turned out to be spectacularly wrong — because British journalists talked to the wrong Bill de Blasio.

The bizarre episode began when Bevan Hurley, a senior reporter for The Times of London, emailed who he thought was the former mayor, asking for his thoughts on Mamdani’s big-spending socialist platform. The email went instead to a 59-year-old Long Island wine importer named Bill DeBlasio — same name, different guy — who decided to play along for fun.

“I’m Bill DeBlasio. I’ve always been Bill DeBlasio,” the importer told Semafor, explaining that he never claimed to be the mayor and assumed the journalist would figure out his mistake. Instead, Hurley printed the ChatGPT-crafted remarks the Long Island DeBlasio sent back, which included skeptical commentary about Mamdani’s tax-and-spend proposals, saying the numbers didn’t “add up.”

Within hours, the article blew up. The Times of London yanked the story, calling it a case of being “misled by an individual falsely claiming to be the former New York mayor.” The New York Times and other outlets piled on with even harsher language — labeling the man a “de Blasio impersonator.”

But the Long Island DeBlasio insists he never misrepresented himself. “I never once said I was the mayor. He never addressed me as the mayor,” he said. “So I just gave him my opinion.”  Far from being a prankster with a political agenda, the businessman said he responded mostly for amusement — and because the journalist’s failure to double-check seemed unbelievable.

“It was all in good fun,” he said. “I never thought it would make it to print.”  He even poked fun at the confusion over their names, noting that the former mayor spells his surname “de Blasio” with a lowercase “d,” while his own family uses a capital “D” — a distinction he joked about, saying, “low-class Italians use a little d.”

The fallout was swift: embarrassed reporters deleted their work, British editors issued apologies, and The New York Times scrambled to reassure readers that the real de Blasio still backs Mamdani’s $7–$10 billion per year leftist agenda of free buses, universal childcare, and rent freezes.

Former mayor de Blasio said, “I’m astounded. It’s a complete fabrication.”

He reaffirmed his support for Mamdani’s policies, comparing the candidate’s ambitions to his own free pre-K initiative during his time as mayor.

Meanwhile, the Long Island DeBlasio took the chaos in stride. Wearied from years of hate mail meant for the former mayor, he shrugged off the whole media circus as another example of sloppy journalism.

He was accurately quoted, but called it “lazy” reporting.