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Indian-origin health advisor brags about drug-fueled sex parties in viral video: ‘Everyone was high’
Dr Jay Varma was filmed talking about attending drug-fueled sex parties during the Covid-induced lockdown.
A former New York City official who helped coordinate the city’s response to the pandemic was fired from his private-sector job after he was filmed talking about attending drug-fueled sex parties even as the city was under lockdown.
Dr Jay Varma was terminated from his position as executive vice president and chief medical officer at pharmaceutical company SIGA Technologies. News of his termination came after podcaster Steven Crowder shared hidden-camera footage of Dr Varma bragging about attending sex parties during the Covid pandemic.
From April 2020 to May 2021, Varma served as senior public health adviser to New York Mayor Bill de Blasio. He frequently joined the mayor at press briefings and helped shape the city's COVID-19 response, including promoting mask use, regular testing, and vaccinations.
What he said on hidden camera
Speaking to an unnamed woman, he was heard bragging about attending sex parties during the height of the pandemic and even admitting that it would be “real embarrassing” if this information got out.
“We went to some underground, like, dance parties… and we were all rolling. We were all taking Molly [MDMA]. Everybody was high,” Dr Varma was heard saying in the leaked video.
Laughing as he admitted that the parties were not “Covid-friendly,” the doctor claimed that he could only cope with his high-stress job by blowing off steam this way.
“I was running the entire Covid response in the city,” he said, adding that he rented a hotel to host sex parties with friends.
“I did all this deviant, sexual stuff while I was on TV and people were like, ‘Aren’t you afraid? Aren’t you embarrassed?’” he said at one point in the edited recording. “And I was like, no, I really like being my authentic self.”
Varma also acknowledged how disastrous his actions would have been to the city’s efforts had they been exposed at the time.
The Indian-origin former health adviser declined Tuesday to comment on his firing, but acknowledged the authenticity of the video in a statement provided by a spokesperson.
“I take responsibility for not using the best judgment at the time,” he wrote, adding that the recordings were from private conversations that had been “secretly recorded, spliced, diced, and taken out of context.”
(With inputs from AP)
