Michael Bloomberg has a lot of explaining to do.
The billionaire and former New York City mayor has a lot of time in the public eye behind him, and with it comes a string of sexist comments he's made over the years, as compiled by The New York Times. But when the potential 2020 candidate was asked for a response to these many demeaning remarks and allegations, he only sent a spokesperson to do his non-apologizing for him.
Some of the remarks the Times dug up came from a 1990 gag gift from colleagues at his company. It was a compilation of Bloomberg's "wit and wisdom," and includes remarks about how his Bloomberg terminal would even perform oral sex, putting "a lot of you girls out of business." When the book came up as Bloomberg was running for mayor in 2001, he said he didn't remember saying them. Flash forward to 2012, and a New York Magazine reporter says Bloomberg gestured to a woman near by and said "look at the ass on her" just seconds after shaking the reporter's hand.
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After the Times confronted the Bloomberg team with these and many more offensive comments in advance of his foray into the Democratic primary field, Bloomberg's spokesperson issued a statement that didn't exactly apologize for any of it. "Mike has come to see that some of what he has said is disrespectful and wrong. He believes his words have not always aligned with his values and the way he has led his life," the spokesperson, Bloomberg's mayoral press secretary Stu Loeser, said.
The Times did interview former New York City officials who'd worked with Bloomberg, and none of them recalled hearing him "make sexist or offensive comments" in their shared open office. Read more at The New York Times.
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