When Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren put her newest political rival Mike Bloomberg on the spot during last week’s Nevada debate about sexual harassment, it was apparent she had done her homework.
Senator Warren called out a history of alleged misogyny and obscene statements the former New York mayor is accused of making 30 years ago as the head of a financial software company he still runs today.
Warren held Bloomberg’s feet to the fire on an unknown number of nondisclosure agreements that continue to keep decades of alleged sexual harassment or discrimination suits against him secret.
“I’d like to talk about who we’re running against, a billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse-faced lesbians,”Warren charged. “And, no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump. I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg.”
On the stage, Bloomberg looked fraught and uncomfortable. He responded that he had never been accused of anything, only that some women “didn’t like a joke I told.”
But apparently Bloomberg had told enough jokes in his past that Warren knew about and now wanted to confront herself.
“We are not going to beat Donald Trump with a man who has who knows how many nondisclosure agreements and the drip, drip, drip of stories of women saying they have been harassed and discriminated against,” she said. “That’s not what we do as Democrats.”
Warren was referring to a book by Elisabeth DeMarse, Bloomberg's former chief marketing officer at Bloomberg LP.
"Yes, these are all actual quotes. No, nothing has been embellished or exaggerated. And yes, some things were too outrageous to include." — Elisabeth DeMarse, former Bloomberg employee
1990 book of quotations
For Bloomberg’s 48th birthday in 1990, DeMarse collected the statements which added up to 34 pages of lewd one-liners that Bloomberg had allegedly used in the company of his peers, according to reports.
“Yes, these are all actual quotes,” DeMarse wrote in the book's introduction. “No, nothing has been embellished or exaggerated. And yes, some things were too outrageous to include.”
Many of the quotes are about women, reports say.
“If women wanted to be appreciated for their brains, they’d go to the library instead of to Bloomingdale’s,” the book quotes Bloomberg, according to reports.
One of the alleged quotes in the book was about British Prince Andrew, who dated American actress Koo Stark in the early 1980s before marrying Sarah Ferguson.
“The royal family. What a bunch of misfits. A gay, an architect, that horse-faced lesbian, and a kid who gave up Koo Stark for some fat broad,” Bloomberg allegedly said.
The book also alleges Bloomberg said his computer program will “do everything, including give you a [expletive]” and that computers “would say that the sex of the person giving you a [expletive] doesn’t matter.”
As Bloomberg ran for mayor of New York in 2001, his spokesperson admitted that Bloomberg "might have" made the comments but that they were only "jokes" and that Bloomberg had apologized to “anyone that was offended,” according to reports.
At the time Bloomberg dismissed DeMarse's book as “Borscht Belt jokes,” reports say, and he has never fully acknowledged making the statements in the book, according to The New York Times.
Last year, however, a Bloomberg spokesman, Stu Loeser, issued a statement about Bloomberg’s history of misogynist remarks, saying: “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 New York Times reported.
Other comments attributed to Bloomberg include:
- One legal complaint filed in the 1990s claimed that Bloomberg told an employee who had just announced she was pregnant to "kill it." "He told me to 'kill it' in a serious monotone voice," the woman alleged in a lawsuit. "I asked 'What? What did you just say?' He looked at me and repeated in a deliberate manner 'kill it.' " Bloomberg has repeatedly denied that specific allegation, which arose in a discrimination lawsuit that was settled out of court.
- Other quotes attributed to him in court filings include "I'd like to do that piece of meat" and "I would DO you in a second."
- In another case, Bloomberg is alleged to have told a female employee, regarding her boyfriend: "Keep him happy with a good [expletive]."
- At a 1996 dinner party, he is alleged to have announced to a table of colleagues, "I'd love nothing more in life than to have Sharon Stone sit on my face."
Bloomberg’s campaign initially denied the former mayor made the comments in the book: “Mike simply did not say the things somebody wrote in this gag gift, which has been circulating for 30 years and has been quoted in every previous election Mike has been in.”
A shift in stance
According to The Associated Press, Bloomberg's company faced nearly 40 lawsuits involving 65 plaintiffs between 1996 and 2016, though it's unclear how many relate to sexual harassment or discrimination.
Under pressure from Warren, Bloomberg said last Friday that he would release three women from confidentiality agreements that prevent them from speaking publicly about the cases.
He also said his company will no longer use nondisclosure agreements “to resolve claims of sexual harassment or misconduct going forward.”
“I recognize that NDAs, particularly when they are used in the context of sexual harassment and sexual assault, promote a culture of silence in the workplace and contribute to a culture of women not feeling safe or supported,” the statement said.
But Warren said she was unconvinced.
“That's just not good enough,” Warren said while campaigning Friday in Las Vegas, a day before the Nevada caucuses. “If there are only three, then why didn't he sign a blanket release?”
What’s next
Seeking to regain his footing, Bloomberg will appear on stage at the next Democratic debate on Tuesday in South Carolina.
Super Tuesday is also right around the corner on March 3, when Bloomberg will be on the ballot for the first time.
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