Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio used a recent New York Magazine interview to address the notorious 2014 incident in which he dropped a groundhog, resulting in its death.
Feb. 2, 2014, was set to be a normal New York City Groundhog Day, even though Staten Island Chuck, the traditional local ceremonial groundhog, was replaced with a stand-in named Charlotte.
Charlotte predicted six more weeks of winter before she slipped out of de Blasio’s hands and took a frightening plunge. She later died dead due to “acute internal injuries” on Feb. 9.
Today marks the 7th anniversary of @BilldeBlasio dropping Charlotte, who was standing in for Staten Island Chuck, nearly six feet.
One week later, Charlotte died from “acute internal injuries.” pic.twitter.com/Upv0CeyQiB
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) February 2, 2021
Speaking to Benjamin Hart, de Blasio admitted his early morning “motor skills” were “not at their best” when he dropped the animal, according to New York Magazine.
“I put on these gloves, and they’re like, ‘Here’s a groundhog,’ I’m like, ‘What the fuck?'” before decrying the “idiocy” of the situation, he told the outlet.
Apparently deflecting blame, de Blasio questioned why anyone wanted “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?”
De Blasio continued his reflection, asking, “do you squeeze it really tight? I mean, what do you do? So I’m like, talk about a lack of advance work,” he told New York Magazine.(RELATED: De Blasio Pleads Ignorance Of Che Guevara Quotation — Despite Deep Leftist Roots)
De Blasio served as New York City mayor between 2014 and 2021 before being succeeded by former police captain and current Mayor Eric Adams.