Former NYC Covid Czar Attended Sex Parties While Drafting Pandemic Policies

A health official who led New York City through the Covid-19 pandemic admitted to attending sex parties during the lockdown, ignoring the social distancing guidelines he promoted.

Dr. Jay Varma, chief health adviser to then-Mayor Bill de Blasio from April 2020 to May 2021, celebrated privately while publicly promoting vaccination and mask mandates, social distancing and limits on gathering sizes. In a video posted Thursday by conservative podcaster Steven Crowder, the epidemiologist admitted to breaking his own rules.

In a montage of footage, Varma talks about going to a “dance party” under a Wall Street bank with 200 people while high on MDMA and about hosting a party with his wife and eight to 10 others at a hotel.

“I could only do this job for the city if I had the opportunity to let off steam every now and then,” he can be seen saying in one clip.

The footage, shot in the summer of 2024, shows Varma admitting the hypocrisy of serving as the city's Covid czar while flouting the guidelines he helped create. “I was doing all this kinky sexual stuff while I was on TV,” he says in one clip. Recalling when some people asked him if he was “scared” or “embarrassed” at the time, he expressed no remorse, saying, “No, actually I love being my authentic self.”

The Independent sent an email seeking comment to two email addresses associated with Varma.

When ABC 7 asked him about the video, he did not deny the allegations. He clarified to the news outlet that he attended two gatherings in August 2020 and May 2021 and said the footage was secretly filmed and “edited, chopped up and taken out of context.”

The city's schools were closed, indoor dining was banned and mask and vaccination mandates were enforced, but Varma appeared to be failing to follow his own safety measures. “I take responsibility for not using my best judgment at the time,” he said in a statement to the outlet.

“Unfortunately, I have been targeted by an agent of a far-right organization determined to defame public health officials and destroy the public health system in America,” he added. Crowder's podcast was previously banned from YouTube for hate speech.

The revelations prompted a New York City Council member to ask Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and interim Commissioner Thomas Donlon to investigate the allegations. In a letter Thursday, Council member Robert Holden called for an investigation into the allegations and asked that Varma be held to “the same legal standards as any other resident of this city.”

“Thousands of New Yorkers have lost their lives, families have been separated, businesses have closed, and residents have faced tremendous psychological and emotional distress. The idea that an official responsible for the city's COVID-19 response participated in illegal gatherings while imposing strict restrictions on others is not only hypocritical, it is a violation of the public trust,” Holden wrote.

The Independent has asked representatives of the public prosecutor's office for a statement by email.

After serving New York City, Varma became a professor of population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medical College from 2021 to 2023 and has been part of the “courtesy” faculty since then, according to his biography. As of Friday morning, his biography has been removed from Weill Cornell's website. A university representative said The Independent that he is not listed in their faculty system.

According to his LinkedIn profile, he currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at SIGA Technologies, a pharmaceutical company, and also serves as Chief Medical Advisor at Kroll, a management consulting firm.

The Independent has asked both companies for comment.