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🟡 NEW: The man at the heart of a mixup that rippled through global political journalism in the final days of the New York mayoral campaign was neither “falsely claiming” to be former Mayor Bill de Blasio, nor a “de Blasio impersonator.”

semafor.comBritish newspaper spoke to the wrong DeBlasio, not an ‘imposter’How a Long Island vintner, with the help of ChatGPT, prompted a transatlantic journalistic debacle.

Semafor

@semafor.com

He is, instead, a 59-year-old Long Island wine importer named Bill DeBlasio, who merely responded to an email from a journalist seeking his views on Democrat Zohran Mamdani’s policies.

semafor.comBritish newspaper spoke to the wrong DeBlasio, not an ‘imposter’How a Long Island vintner, with the help of ChatGPT, prompted a transatlantic journalistic debacle.

30/10/25, 2:31 am3 reposts25 likes

Semafor

@semafor.com

30 Oct 2025

“I’m Bill DeBlasio. I’ve always been Bill DeBlasio,” DeBlasio said in an interview conducted through his Ring doorbell on Long Island. “I never once said I was the mayor. He never addressed me as the mayor. So I just gave him my opinion.”

semafor.comBritish newspaper spoke to the wrong DeBlasio, not an ‘imposter’How a Long Island vintner, with the help of ChatGPT, prompted a transatlantic journalistic debacle.

KELLY ANN GONZALES-DODD | 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡 🌷

@kellygwrites.bsky.social

30 Oct 2025

That’s such a hilariously specific way to give an interview, through a Ring doorbell!

MomentoAnima

@momentoanima.bsky.social

30 Oct 2025

Like. I…just can’t. I both want the details of why a Ring doorbell was used and also I don’t want to know.

EinhornPapa

@einhornpapa.bsky.social

30 Oct 2025

Seems to be pretty simple: somebody rang the doorbell in Long Island, while DeBlasio was in Florida...🤷‍♂️ "in an interview conducted Wednesday evening through his Ring doorbell in Huntington Station, Long Island, from his current location in Florida."