NYC COVID adviser brags in secret recording about drug-fueled sex parties mid-pandemic: ‘Had to be sneaky’
New York City’s former COVID czar was caught on a hidden camera boasting about having drug-fueled sex parties mid-pandemic — and admitting New Yorkers would have been “pissed” if they had found out at the time.
Dr. Jay Varma — who served as senior health adviser to then-Mayor Bill de Blasio and was tasked with running the Big Apple’s pandemic response — made the confession in secretly recorded conversations with a so-called undercover operative from conservative podcaster Steven Crowder’s “Mug Club.”
“I had to be kind of sneaky about it … because I was running the entire COVID response in the city,” Varma was filmed telling the unidentified woman on Aug. 1 in what appears to be a restaurant.
The edited clips of the hidden camera footage, which were all recorded between July 27 and Aug. 14 in New York, were released by Crowder on Thursday. The Post has not reviewed the full, unedited recordings.
The identity of the woman Varma was speaking to — or where he met up with her — wasn’t clear. The nature of their relationship also wasn’t clear.
Varma, who no longer works for City Hall, admitted to The Post that he “participated in two private gatherings” between April 2020 and May 2021 — but insisted the secretly recorded conversations had been “taken out of context.”
In one clip recorded on Aug. 14, Varma was filmed acknowledging it would have been a “real embarrassment” for the city if he had been busted at the non-socially distanced parties — despite saying there were no gathering restrictions at the time.
“We went to some, like, underground dance party … underneath a bank on Wall Street … We were all rolling, we’re all taking molly [MDMA] and everybody’s high. And I was so happy because I hadn’t done that in like a year and a half,” he said in the clip.
“But I was looking around being like, ‘F–k, I wonder if anybody sees me, they’re gonna be pissed.’ Because this was not COVID-friendly,” he added.
“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 said, according to the video.
He also copped to renting a hotel room in the summer of 2020 with his wife and friends.
“My wife and I had one with our friends in August of like that first summer. So we rented a hotel … we all took, like, you know, molly [MDMA] and like it was like eight or nine or us, eight to 10 of us were in a room and everybody had a blast because everybody was like so pent up,” he said in a clip dated Aug. 1.
At one point, Varma also bragged about his City Hall role, how he was involved in televised COVID briefings and was among those to convince de Blasio to enforce a vaccine mandate.
“I did all this deviant, like sexual stuff while I was like, you know, like on TV and stuff. People were like, ‘Aren’t you afraid? Aren’t you embarrassed?’ and I was like, ‘No, actually, I’m like, I love being my authentic self,'” he was filmed saying in a July 27 clip.
Varma, in a statement, acknowledged, “I take responsibility for not using the best judgment at the time.”
But he also slammed the recordings, saying he had been “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.”
“In those private conversations that were secretly recorded, spliced, diced, and taken out of context, I referred to events that transpired four years ago,” the statement said.
The ex-de Blasio official went on to say he stood by the advice he gave New Yorkers 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,” he said.
“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.”
Varma is currently employed as the chief medical officer for a pharma company called SIGA Technologies, according to his LinkedIn.
Several lawmakers fumed over the newly released footage, with Councilmember Joann Ariola (R-Queens) telling The Post it showed the “perverse corruption” of the de Blasio administration.
“This guy was running around living like a drug-fueled Caligula, mandating that ordinary New Yorkers suffer in lockdown and lose their livelihoods while he throws himself parties that could make a rock star blush,” Ariola said.
“Dr. Varma’s pathetic attempt to impress a date further revealed what we all knew — that the ‘leaders’ who shut down businesses, told us not to celebrate Thanksgiving, and fired workers for not taking the vaccine, have always been absolutely full of s–t,” added Councilmember Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island).
Meanwhile, Councilmember Robert Holden (D-Queens) urged the city to rehire municipal workers who lost their jobs for not following the vaccine mandate.
“These individuals dedicated their lives to this city, and especially in light of these revelations, it is unconscionable to continue fighting against them in court. It’s time to rehire these city workers and make things right, Mr. Mayor,” said Holden, who stressed there should be a “serious investigation” into Varma’s comments.
The Post reached out to de Blasio but didn’t hear back.
A rep for Mayor Eric Adams, in a statement, said Varma “is not, nor has he ever been, a member of the current administration” and praised the city Department of Health for its work during the pandemic.
Varma, back in May 2022, had blasted Adams, saying the mayor was not moving aggressively enough to contain new variants of the virus.
At the time, Adams thanked Varma for his service, but said he would set his own policy.
“I’m hoping the doctor will respect my role as being the mayor of the city,” he said then. “I’m hoping he will respect that and not constantly weigh in and allow us to do the job.”
