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I did not ogle that woman!
A clearly peeved Mayor Bloomberg yesterday shot down a report that he used less than gentlemanly language to describe a woman’s rear end at a holiday party, supposedly saying, “Look at the ass on her.”
“I never said it, and I don’t know where it came from,” Bloomberg barked when a reporter asked about it at a press conference in Harlem.
“Next question,” the mayor quickly added. But the reporter persisted, citing it as part of a pattern of sexist comments flowing from the mayoral mouth.
“OK, you can write anything you want,” snapped Bloomberg. “Don’t be ridiculous. That’s an outrage for you to say that.”
The mayor’s off-color remark was included in a New York Magazine profile of Christine Quinn. Writer Jonathan Van Meter said he overheard it at the affair in a townhouse in the East 60s.
The unidentified woman who caught Bloomberg’s eye was outfitted in a very tight, floor-length gown, according to the magazine.
Seeking safe harbor yesterday, the mayor recognized another questioner.
She wanted to know about his reported comments in the magazine about Quinn’s fashion choices.
“Why have you become the fashion police, giving Christine Quinn advice on wearing heels and getting her roots done?” asked Marcia Kramer of Channel 2.
Quinn told the magazine that the mayor “likes me in high heels” and often teases her about her hair color.
“Miss,” the mayor told Kramer, “when we have conversations, joke about it, there’s nothing wrong with that. Chris Quinn has really done a lot for this city. I’ve been a big supporter of her, as you know.”
Bloomberg has been accused of making indelicate comments before about women, mostly when he worked in the male-dominated culture of Wall Street.
Quinn yesterday defended Bloomberg and said her exchanges with the mayor are all in good fun.
“The mayor and I have a productive, collegial and fun working relationship . . . Part of that is a healthy banter in the way only two tough, outspoken New Yorkers can have. We joke around, and it’s all in good fun,” she said.
“By the way, did you notice the hideous tie the mayor was wearing today?”
Shama Hussain, a spokeswoman for the magazine, defended the article. “We stand by the story,” she said.