Skip to main content
Updated Mar 1, 2020 - Politics & Policy

Bloomberg on claims of sexist comments: "I'm sorry if somebody was hurt"

headshot
Mike Bloomberg speaks during the Blue NC Celebration Dinner held at the Hilton Charlotte University Place on February 29, 2020 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Mike Bloomberg speaks during a Feb. 29 dinner in Charlotte, North Carolina. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg apologized during a "60 Minutes" interview broadcast Sunday "if somebody was hurt" by language he's used in the past.

Details: CBS' Scott Pelley pressed the former New York City mayor on passages from a "tongue-in-cheek" 1990 booklet by his employees, titled "The Wit and Wisdom of Michael Bloomberg," which contained crude comments purportedly said by him.

  • Bloomberg said he didn't write the booklet and didn't think he'd ever seen it, but he did remember it, though he couldn't recall the quotes cited by Pelley.
  • "I can tell you that years ago on the trading room floors, things were different," Bloomberg said. "I apologize for that. I'm sorry if somebody was hurt. ... I can't go rewrite history. I can only tell you now it's a different world."

What else he's saying: In the wide-ranging interview, Bloomberg again apologized for implementing an aggressive stop-and-frisk policing policy while mayor of New York, which disproportionately targeted African American and Latino people, admitting to Pelley that it had been a "mistake."

  • Bloomberg also said that he entered the 2020 race because President Trump would "eat" the other Democratic presidential candidates "for lunch."
  • And even though former Vice President Joe Biden won the South Carolina Democratic primary, Bloomberg said Sen. Bernie Sanders is the candidate to beat.
  • But he added, "The middle of the road doesn't want extremism. They want evolution rather than revolution. And if Bernie Sanders is the candidate, Donald Trump will win."

Flashback: Sanders told "60 Minutes" last month after Bloomberg's lackluster performance at the Nevada Democratic presidential debate, "If that's what happened in a Democratic debate, you know, I think it's quite likely that Trump will chew him up and spit him out."

Go deeper: Bloomberg's baggage, and barrage

Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.

Go deeper