New York, Sep 30
The Indian-American doctor, Jay Varma, who received accolades for steering the city through the pandemic as the “Covid Czar” now finds his reputation in tatters after he boasted about hosting a sex party while the city was locked down on his instructions and people were ordered to socially distance.
A woman working with a conservative podcaster secretly recorded him making X-rated boasts about being at a sex party he and his wife, also a doctor, hosted at a hotel, and dancing away at a party with 200 people at an underground site in a bank building on Wall Street.
He also spoke in the video of using an illegal psychedelic drug known as MMDA or ecstasy, which can get anyone possessing it a prison term.
He has drawn the ire of politicians and citizens after the podcaster made the videos public earlier this month.
This video appearance was a far cry from his almost daily presence on TV alongside then-Mayor Bill de Blasio to report on the pandemic and advise New Yorkers on fighting it.
He was recently fired from his post-Covid job as the chief medical officer and executive vice president of a pharmaceutical company, while the media, politicians and activists poured scorn on him.
The city's compulsory vaccination programme was opposed by both the extreme right and the left, and the opponents have zeroed in on him as the man behind the mandates -- like other sceptics have attacked the federal Covid czar Anthony Fauci, who was an almost revered figure at the height of the pandemic.
About 100 city workers, who had lost their jobs for not following the mandate for Covid vaccination, held a demonstration outside the City Hall, while inside a Republican council woman accused him of perjury for filing affidavits supporting compulsory vaccination.
Varma has not denied the basic facts but said the tapes in the video were spliced out of context.
“I take responsibility for not using the best judgment at the time,” his statement said.
Steven Crowder, the podcaster, was out to discredit him on the policies for the vaccine and mask mandates, and the order to keep schools closed during the pandemic, but the undercover reporter stumbled on the embarrassing personal admissions.
"I did all this deviant, sexual stuff while I was on TV (as city health official) and people were like, ‘Aren’t you afraid? Aren’t you embarrassed? And I was like, no, I really like being my authentic self," Varma says in the video.
He is seen on the video shot at several locations dropping salacious details like “sometimes it isn't so much about, like, penetrative sexual stuff” and “being naked with friends”.
His high point was when the floundering city reached out in April 2020 to Varma, an epidemiologist with an international reputation to help it face the crisis.
A Harvard graduate, Varma worked for the Centers for Disease Control and built a reputation as an international epidemiologist, often flying to hotspots and being posted to China, Thailand, and Ethiopia.
Another Indian-American doctor, Dave Chokshi, was appointed the city’s commissioner and the duo was credited with helping the city weather the crisis after the previous commissioner was fired.
Chokshi is unscathed by any scandal, and so is his successor, another Indian-American, Ashwin Vasan.
Vasan recently announced that he was resigning in a move unrelated to the scandal or any other problem.
Since the pandemic began 6.7 million New Yorkers have been infected with Covid and 77,423 have died.
Although the US mainstream media bars its journalists from making secret videos or tapes, activist journalists use them frequently, even against the mainstream media.
One of the tactics, like the one used against Varma, is for a reporter to befriend the target and win their trust by playing to their ego.
Two prominent politicians have also run into trouble over parties held when they imposed restrictions: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for a birthday party at his official residence, and California Governor Gavin Newsom for attending a dinner party at a restaurant.
