New York City’s former senior health advisor, Dr. Jay Varma, admitted he ignored the COVID-19 policies he pressed New Yorkers to follow in order to attend alleged sex and dance parties, CBS News reports.
Varma’s admission was captured on a hidden, edited video captured by conservative podcast host Steven Crowder. In the video, Varma, who served as former senior advisor of public health under Mayor Bill de Blasio between 2020 and 2021, admitted to attending a dance party “underneath a bank in Wall Street” with about 200 people. He also claimed attendees were under the influence of the party drug called “Molly.”
“I was so happy because I hadn’t done that in like a year and a half,” he said. “But I was looking around like ‘f***; I wonder if anybody sees me they’re gonna be pissed’ because this is not COVID-friendly.”
He also allegedly bragged about being the one to push the mayor to get mandatory vaccination rules in place that prevented then-Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving from playing at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center after refusing to get the shot.
According to NBC News, Crowder started the recording by checking Varma about “having sex parties and having dance parties while businesses are being shut down and New York sees an unemployment that’s twice the national average.” The former health advisor said the “sex party”—which he described as “just being naked with friends”—took place in August 2020 with close to 10 people, but he claimed he implemented a COVID-19 “testing protocol” for the gathering.
In a statement from Varma’s spokesperson, Chris Vlasto, Varma said he takes “responsibility for not using the best judgment at the time. Facing the greatest public health crisis in a century, our top priority was to save lives, and every decision made was based on the best available science to keep New Yorkers safe,” the statement read.
“I stand by my efforts to get New Yorkers vaccinated against COVID-19, and I reject dangerous extremist efforts to undermine the public’s confidence in the need for and effectiveness of vaccines.”
However, he also blasted Crowder for lack of privacy and said his words were taken out of context. “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,” Varma said.
New York City Council Member Robert Holden is calling for Varma to be investigated by both state and federal prosecutors.
“The guy has no shame. It is disgusting,” he said. “This is a very serious thing that’s going on, and that was going on, and that’s why– what else did he do? What else did he say? What else should we have done?”
Holden is hoping that Varma, who is now the executive vice president and chief medical officer for pharmaceutical company SIGA Technologies Inc., will be the subject of a full-scale City Council investigation, resulting in Varma being called in to testify.
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