The former New York mayor Bill de Blasio has addressed perhaps the greatest, or possibly saddest, controversy of his time at City Hall: the day he dropped a groundhog, which subsequently died.
The Democrat left office in 2021. This week, he spoke to New York magazine. Describing the interview at a coffee shop in Brooklyn, the publication said the prominent Clinton ally and former presidential aspirant, 62, “seemed far more at ease than he often did while in office”.
Eventually, though, the conversation turned to the fate of Charlotte, which was taking part in an annual Groundhog Day ceremony when, one doleful day in February 2014, De Blasio dropped it.
Asked if he had any regrets, De Blasio said: “Yeah. 100%. I’m like, ‘Don’t make me hold a fucking groundhog.’ I mean, what the hell? Let me tell you exactly what happened.
“I go there and it’s seven in the morning, which means my motor skills are not at their best. I put on these gloves, and they’re like, ‘Here’s a groundhog.’ I’m like, ‘What the fuck?’ I’m like, ‘Don’t you have a little more coaching to go with this or whatever?’
“It was idiocy. Why would you want an elected official to hold a groundhog? I don’t know anything about holding groundhogs. So the whole thing is just insane. There’s an original sin here. Don’t hand someone a groundhog, right?
“Only trained groundhog holders. And do you squeeze it really tight? I mean, what do you do? So I’m like, talk about a lack of advance work.”
Later in 2014, a spokesperson for the Staten Island Zoo told reporters the groundhog’s handler “may not have been forceful enough” when placing it in De Blasio’s hands, meaning the mayor could not get a firm grip.
“It was a complete bungle,” the spokesperson said.
Charlotte was found dead a week later. A necropsy determined the animal died of internal injuries.
The spokesperson said: “We don’t know how the animal suffered the injuries but we don’t think it was from the fall.”
De Blasio is not the only New York mayor to have had problems with groundhogs. He was wearing gloves in 2014 because five years before, a groundhog bit Michael Bloomberg.
The current mayor, Eric Adams, has been dogged by rather weightier controversies, this week over the resignation of his police commissioner, Keechant Sewell, the first woman to fill the role, reportedly over alleged cronyism around the mayor.
In his conversation with New York magazine, De Blasio was asked about a famous headline by the satirical website the Onion, from 2021: “De Blasio: ‘Well, Well, Well, Not So Easy to Find a Mayor That Doesn’t Suck Shit, Huh?’”
“Famous headline,” De Blasio said. “Many people have referred to it. I think it’s very funny that in the last year and a half of all the headlines that might possibly be of interest, this is the one that people have commented on most.
“It comes from the Onion. I’m like, ‘You do realise that’s satire, right?’ If you’re getting your news from the Onion, you need to question yourself a little bit, even though I love the Onion.
“No, look, I think the bottom line is, being mayor of New York City is one of the toughest jobs in politics and government. It’s one of the best jobs in politics and government. It’s beyond human comprehension, including for all of us who have done it, and I think everyone learns quickly.”
