The Times of London deleted a story on Tuesday after an impersonator of former Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio tricked the outlet into publishing a fake story about the former mayor.
The newspaper published a story titled, “Zohran Mamdani ally Bill de Blasio says his policies ‘don’t add up,’” which quoted de Blasio’s supposed concerns about Democratic New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani’s policy proposals. It later turned out that one of the Times’ reporters was “misled” by someone claiming to be de Blasio.
Upon learning this, The Times of London took the article down and apologized to de Blasio.
“The Times has apologised to Bill de Blasio and removed the article immediately after discovering that our reporter had been misled by an individual falsely claiming to be the former New York mayor,” the outlet said in a statement, according to The New York Times.
De Blasio stated on X that the story was “entirely false and fabricated” and that he never spoke to the reporter.
“I want to be 100% clear: The story in the Times of London is entirely false and fabricated. 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,” de Blasio said.
I want to be 100% clear:
The story in the Times of London is entirely false and fabricated.
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. https://t.co/I65e8UV6tm— Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio) October 28, 2025
The former mayor also demanded that the story be removed and reiterated his support for Mamdani.
“I demand the @thetimes pull down this story immediately. It is an absolute violation of journalistic ethics. The truth is I fully support @ZohranKMamdani and believe his vision is both necessary and achievable,” de Blasio said in a separate statement.
The Times of London did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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