There’s nothing newsworthy about someone from Long Island disliking a progressive policy in New York City. DeBlasio is not former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio. Semafor identified the man at the center of the reporting mix-up as a 59-year-old wine importer who had received an email from a Times reporter and decided to respond. I never thought it would make it to print,” he said in an interview conducted via his Ring doorbell in Long Island, saying that he thought the outlet would double-check his identity before publishing. The Times of London later blamed the incident on an “individual falsely claiming to be the former New York mayor.” But the Long Island DeBlasio disputes that characterization.

Source: The Times October 30, 2025 19:35 UTC