Like New York City found out that you're having sex parties during Covid. Yeah. Yeah. It would have been a real bummer. We went to some, like. Underground, like dance party, like underneath a bank in Wall Street. And we were all rolling. We were all taking Molly and everybody's high. [00:00:15] And it was. So happy because it hadn't done that in, like, a year and a half, like a year or whatever. And, but I was looking around being like, I wonder if he sees me looking at him because this was not funny. That was Doctor Jay Varma, New York City's senior public [00:00:31] health advisor during Covid. The video, which was surreptitiously recorded by right wing YouTuber Steven Crowder's team, purports to show Varma admitting to attending drug fueled sex parties during the pandemic despite overseeing and recommending public health policies [00:00:48] like social distancing. At various points, he describes a sex party he and his wife held in a hotel, and a dance party he attended in a space under a bank on Wall Street, joined by more than 200 people. In a statement, Varma said, I take responsibility for not using [00:01:08] the best judgment at the time. But he also claimed the videos weren't entirely accurate and a statement. Doctor Varma did not dispute the recording's authenticity, but said they had been spliced, diced and taken out of context. He said he attended three gatherings between August 2020 and June 2021. [00:01:28] Now, it should be noted that Crowder's operation focused largely on Varma's vaccine policies for New York City. Throughout Crowder's subsequent coverage of these secret recordings, he has repeatedly attacked Varma over his support for Covid vaccination. [00:01:45] I was targeted by an operative for an extremist right wing organization determined to malign public health officials and take down the public health system in America. I stand by my efforts to get New Yorkers vaccinated against Covid 19, and I reject [00:02:01] dangerous, extremist efforts to undermine the public's confidence in the need for and effectiveness of vaccines. You know, I think that it's we should identify that part of the strategy. But what do you make of him being in this position, a public health position, [00:02:19] and going to these parties when everyone else was instructed not to attend large gatherings? Hey, don't scroll away, come back, come back. Because before the video continues, we just want to urge you to lend your support to t t u power our honest reporting. You do it at tyt.com/team and we love you for it. [00:02:37] Yeah. So there's two different things here. One is the sex parties. The other is the dance parties. The sex parties actually are technically okay. This is hilarious. Why? Because at the time, the rules for Covid were no more than ten people in a room. And in the tape where he does not know he's being recorded, [00:02:56] obviously, he says that him and his wife would invite about 8 to 10 people in a hotel room and they'd have a sex party. So technically that was not a violation of the Covid rules. Get back to the sex parties in a second. The dance party. [00:03:12] Over 200 people underground in an enclosed space. No, that's when you're telling everybody, go back home, cover up your mask, don't go outside. And then you go do that. That is massive hypocrisy. [00:03:28] So guys oftentimes we'll tell you about all right wing. They got lies smears don't believe it etc.. Why. Because we're partizans and we don't like the right wing and we automatically assume it. No because that's what they do. And we look at the evidence and there is no evidence. Look at that for evidence. There is no evidence in this case. [00:03:45] They got him. This one is true. And he says it was taken out of context. Okay, I believe it. I'm sure that they added it in in a way that's a little bit misleading. That's usually what the right wing does. Right. But is there a context where this would have sounded different? [00:04:00] Like I stretch my imagination to think, what could he have said before and what could he have said after that would make this okay? And I couldn't find a way. So this one is true. And so, even if it's from the right wing, you don't dismiss it automatically. [00:04:17] You actually look to see if they have the evidence. In this case, they do. So back to the sex parties. What in the world is going on? I've never been invited to a sex party in my life, and it turns out there's like four stories in the show today about sex parties. Like, are people all going, if you're a politician, [00:04:35] are they all going to like, drug fueled sex parties with their wives, etc.? I'm stunned by that. And I guess I'm a nerd. I didn't know that this was happening all over the place, so I'm just I'm bewildered by that part of the story. [00:04:52] - All right, Maz, what do you think? - Jake, you asked. What could he have said before or after to make this all okay, maybe they edited out the part where he said, oh, by the way, we were wearing masks. I think that's a sex party. And a dance party are okay if you're wearing masks. It's all good. [00:05:09] No, it's, to your point, I mean, what's funny is this guy's a professor, and he was also in charge of the Covid response. And I as a layperson, as a comedian, I always defer to people in places of authority, and I always think [00:05:27] that they must be so put together. And so by the book. And, you know, I've done I've hosted events at galas where you run into, oh, this is professor So-and-so, this is the CEO of this and that, and you're kind of looking at them, oh, these people really, you know, you know, [00:05:42] they really must play by the book. No, the professor's having sex parties. I think if I were in his class, the first question I'd ask, I'd be like, I got a question. You know, at what point do you guys decide who's allowed to the sex party [00:05:59] and who's not allowed to decide? Is there any time where you invite just one spouse of the couple and you're like, you know, your husband talks a bit too much. We don't want him coming to the sex party, but you're invited. Like, I'm just curious how it all happens. And to your point, I really I didn't know this stuff was happening. [00:06:17] And in my mind, in our minds, in the real world, we think that everybody like like there was a time when you thought that people that were in politics or in places of power again, were really just buttoned up. You knew they would, you know, they had some deviant behavior. [00:06:32] But, now even professors, and he was so giddy about it, he's like, and not only were they having sex, but he's like, we were on Molly and MDMA. I was like, this dude, this dude parties harder than my barista down the street. [00:06:48] So, it's it's it's it's interesting to see. Yeah. You know, you bring up good questions because when did I get eliminated from the sex party list? And what did I get eliminated for? I want to know who's the gatekeeper, right? Like, oh, no no no, no, he's he's a square. [00:07:04] He won't even Molly. He won't even roll. Right. And apparently I'm not doing nearly enough drugs at every one of these parties. They're like, oh we got ecstasy, cocaine. This the other thing? Jesus, man, I didn't know people were having a wild time. In fact, the other look, the dance party. [00:07:19] Apparently, they're doing these giant dance parties under Wall Street. Like that's almost a scene out of, succession. And I didn't realize that stuff was real. God. Apparently, I'm an Uber nerd. I've never been to any of this stuff. [00:07:36] So, and speaking of, like, other TV shows and Curb Your Enthusiasm, when they talk about dinner parties, they say it's important to have the right middle. Right. The middle seat. The one that talks to both sides at a sex party. I imagine the middle is even more important. [00:07:54] - Yeah. - I do hope you get your invite soon. If anyone's watching, make sure you put your email address in the description on this video. Please send him an invite. He just wants to be included. On on the like. This isn't the first time we've seen somebody who was in a public position, [00:08:12] who was in a government position doing something like that, maybe not quite like this, but defying the rules that they set for everyone else. And it was frustrating. I mean, I, I, like many people watching this, took Covid very seriously. I mean, I stayed inside, I live by myself at the time. [00:08:30] And that was like a pretty rough several months, not talking to anybody, not doing anything, not going anywhere because I understood it was part of a greater collective effort. And then when you saw people like Gavin Newsom having dinners at French Laundry and you saw Mayor London Breed going out and you saw people, it was the governor [00:08:48] of New Jersey going out to dinner. It's just like you saw these things again and again and again. And these are people who purport to take Covid seriously. These weren't right wingers who from the start said, this is just the flu. These are people who said, well, we need to stop the spread and then going out and doing things themselves. [00:09:05] It just it's very frustrating, but it creates an opportunity for the right to exploit. And that's what they're doing here. The point their point isn't so much that he went to a sex party or a dance party. That is the sensational part that they want to grab your attention with. [00:09:20] And they did. Their underlying message Messages. Can you really trust this person? On vaccines? And yes, of course I can separate the two. That was a selfish action. While also he can recognize and see that a vaccine is a good thing [00:09:38] to help prevent further dire consequences for people who get Covid. So it's unfortunate that their own selfish behavior creates an opportunity for the right to exploit. Okay, so great points Jordan. So go ahead and then I'll jump in. [00:09:54] I was going to say and by the way, for anybody who remembers, for those of us who got the Pfizer vaccine, we kind of felt cocky about it. You know, like Moderna, Johnson and Johnson, But perhaps you had the Pfizer vaccine, and that's why he felt like he could go to sex parties and the dance parties, [00:10:09] because that thing made you feel feel really strong. I'm always so middle class. I got Johnson and Johnson. It's just. I'm. I'm low rent anyway. Yeah. So. Okay, look, first of all, important distinction that Jordan is making. Vaccines are mass, so he was not a hypocrite on vaccines. [00:10:28] He got a vaccine. He believes in vaccines. Vaccines do work. He was a giant hypocrite on mass and and isolation, etc. Which then goes to a super interesting point. I don't believe that we needed to isolate and do the vaccines, because some government official told me I believe it because 99% of the doctors said [00:10:47] 99% of the scientists say it. So I don't care what that government official says. But like, I don't want people saying, oh, there's two things here. First of all, there's no question that they're right, that he's a hypocrite. And Gavin Newsom's a hypocrite and Boris Johnson's a hypocrite. [00:11:03] All those guys, it's I'm amazed by it. Apparently they didn't believe the doctors either. I mean, that's the great irony of this. Like they're in the Joe Rogan Aaron Rogers et cetera camp where they're like, oh yeah, we're going to tell people that what the doctors are saying, but let's go to a party with 200 people in an underground place where we're [00:11:22] all going to breathe the same air. I would have never gone to that party before I was vaccinated. Right. So it's it's it's interesting that he apparently didn't believe the things that he was saying. He's wrong about it. He's just as wrong as Steven Crowder is about saying, oh yeah, this is no big deal [00:11:38] and you shouldn't do it. Look, you want to argue about some of the things like, should the schools have been open? You know, where did the vaccine, where did the virus originally come from? ET cetera. Those are legitimate debates and arguments to have. But to me, the fact that this guy was a giant hypocrite [00:11:56] doesn't disprove that vaccines work or that 99% of doctors are incorrect. So. But it does prove that he's a huge hypocrite. 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