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A health official who helped lead New York City through the Covid-19 pandemic admitted to attending sex parties during lockdown, flouting the social distancing guidelines that he touted.
Dr Jay Varma, the senior public health adviser from April 2020 to May 2021 to then-Mayor Bill de Blasio, was privately partying while he was publicly promoting vaccine and mask mandates, social distancing rules, and restrictions on gathering sizes. The epidemiologist acknowledged breaking his own rules in a video released by conservative podcaster Steven Crowder on Thursday.
In a montage of recordings, Varma speaks about going to a “dance party” underneath a Wall Street bank while high on MDMA with 200 people as well as hosting a party with his wife at a hotel with eight to 10 others.
“The only way I could do this job for the city was if I had some way to blow off steam every now and then,” he is heard saying in one clip.
The recordings, which were taken in summer 2024, capture Varma acknowledging the hypocrisy of serving as the city’s Covid czar while also flouting the guidelines he helped shape. “I did all this deviant sexual stuff while I was on TV,” he says in one clip. He recalled when some people asked if he was “afraid” or “embarrassed” at the time, and expressed no remorse, saying: “No, actually I love being my authentic self.”
The Independent has sent an email to two emails linked to Varma for comment.
When asked by the ABC 7 about the video, he did not deny the claims. He clarified to the outlet that he attended two gatherings from August 2020 and May 2021, and said the recordings had been secretly filmed and had been “spliced, diced and taken out of context.”
The city’s schools were closed, indoor dining was prohibited, and mask and vaccine mandates were being enforced, but Varma appeared to not adhere to his own safety measures. “I take responsibility for not using the best judgment at the time,” he said in a statement to the outlet.
“Unfortunately, I was targeted by an operative for an extremist right-wing organization determined to malign public health officials and take down the public health system in America,” he added. Crowder’s podcast has been previously suspended from YouTube for hate speech.
The revelations prompted a New York City council member to ask Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Interim Commissioner Thomas Donlon to investigate the allegations. In a Thursday letter, council member Robert Holden asked for a probe into the allegations, calling for Varma to be held to the “same legal standards as every other resident of this City.”
“Thousands of New Yorkers lost their lives, families were separated, businesses closed, and residents faced enormous mental and emotional strain. The idea that a public official in charge of the City’s COVID-19 response was participating in illegal gatherings while imposing harsh restrictions on others is not only hypocritical but a violation of the public trust,” Holden wrote.
The Independent has emailed representatives for the DA’s office for comment.
After working for New York City, Varma became a professor of population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medical College from 2021 through 2023 and has since served as part of the “Courtesy” faculty, according to his bio. As of Friday morning, his bio was taken down from the Weill Cornell website. A university representative told The Independent that he is not listed in their faculty system.
His LinkedIn profile states he is now the executive vice president and chief medical officer at SIGA Technologies, a pharmaceutical company, and the part-time chief medical advisor at Kroll, a business consulting firm.
The Independent has reached out to both companies for comment.
