The architect of New York City’s coronavirus lockdown measures has apparently admitted to breaking his own rules to attend drug-fueled sex parties in an undercover operation.
Former Covid czar Dr Jay Varma was caught on camera apparently revealing how he took drugs and attended underground raves that were “not Covid-friendly” at the height of the pandemic in 2020.
She also detailed how she would sneak out to take part in “deviant sexual” get-togethers, host sex parties at her home and rent a hotel with friends where they would “get naked” and take “molly” – a street name for MDMA, or ecstasy.
It was secretly recorded in a sting operation operation by Mug Club Undercover, a research organization run by right-wing commentator Steven Crowder.
Dr. Varma was former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s top Covid adviser, appearing at daily public briefings and advocating for restrictions like school closures and vaccine mandates.
Dr. Jay Varma served as Mayor Bill de Blasio’s senior advisor for public health and COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021.
Dr. Varma was filmed in a sting operation conducted by Mug Club Undercover. He was captured in what appear to be secretly recorded videos in July and August 2024.
Throughout the undercover footage, Dr. Varma appears to boast about how he was “running the entire Covid response” in New York City and how he was behind de Blasio’s vaccine mandate push.
“I had to be a little bit stealthy about it… I was in charge of the entire Covid response in the city,” he told a woman identified only as a Mug Club reporter off-camera.
“I did all this kinky, sexual stuff while I was on TV… and people would say, ‘Aren’t you scared? Aren’t you embarrassed?’ And I’d say, ‘No, actually… I love being myself.'”
He later added: “The only way I could do this job for the city would be if I had some outlet from time to time.”
In a statement to DailyMail.com, Dr Varma said: ‘Unfortunately, I was targeted by an agent of a right-wing extremist organisation determined to defame public health officials and destroy the public health system in the United States.
‘This individual has been highly discredited and has been banned from numerous media outlets for his homophobic slurs and racist rants.
‘In those private conversations that were secretly recorded, spliced, cut up and taken out of context, I referred to events that occurred four years ago.
‘Between April 2020 and May 2021, I participated in two private meetings. I take responsibility for not having acted with the best judgment at that time.’
The doctor’s statement continued: ‘In the face of the greatest public health crisis in a century, our top priority was saving lives, and every decision made was based on the best available science to keep New Yorkers safe.
‘I continue my efforts to get New Yorkers vaccinated against COVID-19 and reject dangerous extremist efforts to undermine public confidence in the necessity and efficacy of vaccines.’
In a separate statement, a City Hall spokesperson told DailyMail.com: ‘Dr Varma is not, nor has he ever been, a member of the current administration.
‘The City’s health department did everything possible to protect New Yorkers from COVID-19 and continues to protect and keep New Yorkers safe under the leadership of Mayor Adams.’
DailyMail.com also reached out to SIGA Technologies, where Dr Varma is listed as chief medical officer and executive vice president, but the company has not responded.
Dr. Varma appears to admit in a secretly recorded video that he and his wife rented a hotel to meet friends and use drugs.
Dr. Varma appears to admit in a secretly recorded video that he attended sex and polyamory parties with large groups of people during Covid
When asked by the MCU reporter what “sex parties during Covid” were like, Dr. Varma admits that he has never attended a “public-type” sex party.
However, he goes on to say that he and his wife had one with their friends in August 2020.
The couple rented a hotel room and Dr. Varma advised everyone in attendance to get a Covid test and send him the results.
At this point in the pandemic, New York City was at the beginning of its reopening plan, but businesses were still required to limit capacity and indoor dining was restricted.
Dr Varma, who also worked in global public health for the CDC, said: “It was fun. We all took… Molly (Ecstasy/MDMA) and there were… eight or ten of us in a room and we all had a great time because we were all very close together because we were all stuck together and stuff like that.
“And sometimes it’s not so much about penetrative sex. Sometimes it’s just about being close to each other, being naked with friends.”
Later in the video, Dr. Varma talks about going to an underground dance party with 200 people in May or June 2021 underneath a bank in New York City, where “everyone was high.”
He said: ‘And I was so happy because I hadn’t done that… in like a year or whatever. But I was looking around and I was like, fuck, I wonder if anyone sees me and is going to be mad because this isn’t Covid-friendly.’
Asked by the MCU reporter if he thinks New York City residents would have criticized him for “having sex parties during Covid,” Dr. Varma replied, “Yes. It would have been a big deal.
-Yes, it would have been a real shame.
New York City had some of the strictest lockdown measures in the United States during the peak of the pandemic, when the city became the country’s epicenter of cases and deaths.
Dr Varma appears to admit in a secretly recorded video that he would feel embarrassed if people found out he was not complying with Covid lockdown guidelines
In the footage, Dr. Varma claimed that he was the person who convinced then-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to institute Covid vaccination mandates.
Schools, libraries, parks, shops and restaurants were closed. Millions of people had to work from home and children attended school online.
And in 2022, Dr. Varma criticized current Mayor Eric Adams for not doing enough to contain the spread of the virus when a new variant caused a surge in cases.
The undercover videos also appear to show Dr. Varma taking credit for the vaccine mandates, with the doctor saying he was the one who convinced then-Mayor de Blasio to enforce vaccination requirements.
Dr. Varma said, “Well, I had actually been talking to him[de Blasio]about this even before the vaccines were available. I was thinking we’re going to have to do it this way, and then he came up with this metaphor that we’re going to climb this ladder. We’re going to start voluntarily first and then we’re going to do it by force.”
He continued: ‘The way we do it in public health is to make it very inconvenient to not be vaccinated. With vaccines, it’s like you can’t get a job, you can’t go to a restaurant, kids can’t go to school. It’s like ‘Fuck, I’m going to get vaccinated.’
‘You force people to do it by making them feel really uncomfortable… The idea is to build barriers so that people say, “Fuck this. I’m going to do it because I’m sick of being harassed.”
The nearly 18-minute video also appears to show Dr Varma taking credit for other Covid-era measures, such as social distancing.
Dr. Varma said people asked him how he didn’t “go crazy during” the COVID-19 lockdowns. “I think the reason I didn’t was because I felt like I was in control. Something was being done (to the public, but) it was like I was the one making the decisions about what was happening,” he said.