8/18/2015
By Ivan Pereira
Did Louis C.K. publicly defend the mayor over the radio Tuesday?
That’s the question that Brian Lehrer and listeners of his show were trying to figure out. Lehrer took a call from a person named “Louis from the Village” during his episode where he and two reporters discussed Mayor Bill de Blasio’s popularity in light of the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak and ongoing rift with Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“Louis,” who sounded like the 47-year-old comedian, said New Yorkers should cut the mayor some slack.
“I really like this mayor, and it’s bothered me that there’s sort of a culture of clickbait in the news right now that only little negative stories get attention,” the caller said.
Louis C.K.’s publicist didn’t return immediate messages for comment. He appeared as the mayor’s “inner voice” during a skit in this year’s “Inner Circle” show and shadowed de Blasio two weeks ago at City Hall.
“Louis from the Village,” said the mayor shouldn’t spend “all his time bragging and taking victory laps.”
“You want a guy or a woman who just does good and then moves onto the next thing,” he said.
The caller went on to criticize the media coverage of the mayor, which he contended just focused on the bad news.
“The press today, they don’t make any money on articles about ‘Hey, look his job numbers are up,’ They make money on articles on, ‘Hey look at this little pointless gaffe the mayor did,'” he said.
On its Twitter page, WNYC said the call was anonymous but it would be “pretty cool” if Louis CK did call. Lehrer said he couldn’t say for sure if the comedian was the person behind the voice.
“I do know Louis C.K. has called in a couple of times in the past. We welcome concerned citizen comedians of all political stripes,” he said in a statement to amNewYork.
