Dr. Jay Varma, the former New York City coronavirus chief and sex party lover, has mocked former Mayor Bill de Blasio as a “nasty bastard” who deliberately hurt children by caving to teachers unions' calls for school closures during the pandemic.
“He's a bit of a mean guy. He's had a lot of problems.” Varma said in a secretly recorded video that began circulating online this week.
Off-screen, he complained to an anonymous woman about Mayor de Blasio's initial reluctance to enforce a vaccine mandate for New Yorkers.
“Braz didn't have the guts to tell his employees, 'Fuck you,'” Varma said of his former boss. “I worked closely with him, but I have mixed feelings about him because he's not a good manager.”
Varma said Mayor de Blasio was going against his instincts by closing schools.
“I wanted the kids to be in school, the mayor wanted the kids to be in school, but the teachers' union wouldn't allow it,” Varma said. “The teachers' union wanted all teachers to stay home and do classes on Zoom for safety, even if it meant kids getting hurt. So the mayor was in trouble.”
“The children, [they’re] “In schools … you can't have 8- or 9-year-olds sitting in front of a Zoom screen all day,” he said. “We had no choice. The mayor really wanted kids to be in school, but the unions didn't.”
Mayor de Blasio added, “I'm not telling unions to just disappear because we need them to get out the vote.”
Mr Varma, the architect of New York City's strict coronavirus lockdown, has faced fierce criticism after he admitted to going on drug-fueled party trips with his wife while forcing New Yorkers to stay at home, and now several city council members are calling for an investigation into him.
In one video recorded on August 14, Varma is heard acknowledging that it would have been a “real embarrassment” for the city if he had been arrested at a party where no social distancing was being observed.
“We went to this underground dance party in the basement of a bank on Wall Street. We were all dancing and we were all drinking molly. [MDMA] “Everybody was getting high. I hadn't done that in like a year and a half, so I was super happy,” he said in the video.
The footage was first leaked on Thursday by right-wing internet celebrity Steven Crowder. In a subsequent video, Crowder recites his own remarks at the restaurant, criticizing Varma.
Varma said, He said “I was chatting with her, thinking it was a date.”
“My wife and I have an open relationship,” he quickly adds.
According to LinkedIn, Varma currently works as chief medical officer for a pharmaceutical company called SIGA Technologies.
“I take responsibility for not using the best judgement at the time,” Mr Varma said in a statement, adding that the footage had been “spliced together, chopped up and taken out of context”.
