NYC COVID Counselor Brags In Secret Recording About Drug-Fueled Sex Parties Amid Pandemic: ‘You Had To Be Sneaky’

New York City’s former COVID czar was caught on hidden camera bragging about hosting drug-fueled sex parties during the pandemic — and admitting New Yorkers would have been “pissed” if they found out at the time.

Dr. Jay Varma, who served as a senior health adviser to then-Mayor Bill de Blasio and was tasked with leading the Big Apple’s response to the pandemic, made the confession in secretly recorded conversations with a purported undercover operative for conservative podcaster Steven Crowder’s “Mug Club.”

“I had to act quite sneakily… because I was leading the entire COVID response in the city,” Varma told an unidentified woman, filmed on August 1, at what appears to be a restaurant.

The edited excerpts of the hidden camera footage, all recorded between July 27 and Aug. 14 in New York, were released by Crowder on Thursday. The Washington Post has not reviewed the entire unedited recordings.

The identity of the woman Varma was speaking to, as well as where he had met her, was unclear. The nature of their relationship was also unclear.

Varma, who no longer works at City Hall, admitted to the Post that he “participated in two private meetings” between April 2020 and May 2021, but insisted that the secretly recorded conversations were “taken out of context.”

In a clip recorded on August 14, Varma was filmed acknowledging that it would have been a “real embarrassment” for the city if he had been arrested at parties without social distancing – despite saying there were no restrictions on gatherings at the time.

“We went to an underground dance party…under a Wall Street bank…We were all rolling, we were all doing molly (MDMA) and everybody was stoned. And I was so happy because I hadn’t done that in a year and a half,” he said in the clip.

“But I was looking around and I was like, ‘Holy crap, I wonder if anybody sees me, they’re going to be mad.’ Because it wasn’t COVID-friendly,” he added.

“The only way I could do this job for the city was to have a way to let off steam every now and then,” he said, according to the video.

He also admitted to renting a hotel room in the summer of 2020 with his wife and friends.

“My wife and I did a dose with our friends in August, the first summer. So we rented a hotel… we all did MDMA and there were eight or nine of us in a room, eight to ten, and everybody had a blast because everybody was so focused,” he said in a clip dated August 1.

At one point, Varma also bragged about his role at City Hall, how he participated in televised COVID briefings and was among those who convinced de Blasio to impose a vaccine mandate.

“I did all these deviant, sexual things while I was on TV. People would say, ‘Aren’t you scared? Aren’t you embarrassed?’ and I’d say, ‘No, actually, I like being myself,'” he said in a July 27 video clip.

Varma acknowledged in a statement: “I take responsibility for not using the best judgment possible at the time.”

But he also criticized the recordings, saying he had been “targeted by an operative of a far-right organization determined to smear public health officials and bring down the public health system in America.”

“In these private conversations that were secretly recorded, edited, cut out and taken out of context, I referred to events that occurred four years ago,” the statement said.

The former de Blasio official later said he stood by the advice he gave New Yorkers at the time.

“In the face of the greatest public health crisis in a century, our top priority was saving lives, and every decision we made was based on the best available science to keep New Yorkers safe,” he said.

“I stand by my efforts to vaccinate New Yorkers against COVID-19 and reject dangerous extremist efforts to undermine public confidence in the necessity and effectiveness of vaccines.”

Varma is currently employed as the medical director of a pharmaceutical company called SIGA Technologies, according to his LinkedIn.

Several lawmakers have expressed outrage over the release of the newly released images, with Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens) telling the Post that they showed the “evil corruption” of the de Blasio administration.

“This guy was running around, living like a drug-addled Caligula, forcing ordinary New Yorkers to suffer in lockdown and lose their livelihoods while he threw parties that would make a rock star blush,” Ariola said.

“Dr. Varma’s pathetic attempt to impose a date has further revealed what we all knew: 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 mrs,” added Councilman Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island).

Meanwhile, City Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens) urged the city to rehire municipal employees who lost their jobs for failing to comply with the vaccination mandate.

“These individuals have dedicated their lives to this city, and especially in light of these revelations, it is unconscionable to continue to fight them in court. It is time to rehire these city employees and set things right, Mr. Mayor,” said Holden, who stressed that a “serious investigation” into Varma’s comments must be conducted.

The Post reached out to de Blasio but did not hear back.

A representative for Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement that Varma “is not, and has never been, a member of the current administration” and praised the city’s health department for its work during the pandemic.

In May 2022, Varma blasted Adams, saying the mayor was not acting 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 hope the doctor will respect my role as mayor of the city,” he said. “I hope he will respect that and not come in and constantly interfere and allow us to do our job.”