British paper retracts de Blasio interview amid fabricated quotes

A British newspaper on Tuesday published and then retracted an interview it attributed to former New York City mayor Bill de Blasio in which he appeared to criticize Democratic mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani, saying the quotes were fabricated and had been posted after the reporter was misled. The paper apologized to de Blasio and removed the item within about 90 minutes of publication, after which the former mayor publicly denied ever speaking to the reporter and reiterated his support for Mamdani.

The article had included a line attributed to de Blasio that read, "In my view, the math doesn't hold up under scrutiny, and the political hurdles are substantial." De Blasio called the story "entirely false and fabricated" in posts on X and told reporters he never gave the quoted remarks. He demanded that the newspaper retract the piece immediately and called its publication an "absolute violation of journalistic ethics." He also told a national newspaper he was astounded and reaffirmed that he supports Mamdani and believes his policy agenda is achievable.

The newspaper said in a statement that its reporter had been misled by an individual falsely claiming to be the former mayor...