New York Mayor Bill de Blasio on Amazon: 'They couldn't handle the heat in the kitchen'

Bill de Blasio.
(Image credit: NBC/Screenshot)

Referring to Amazon's decision to pull its HQ2 campus out of New York's Long Island City, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told NBC's Chuck Todd "this is an example of an abuse of corporate power," on Sunday's edition of Meet the Press.

"They said they wanted a partnership, but the minute there were criticisms, they walked away," de Blasio said. "What does that say to working people, that a company would leave them high and dry, simply because some people raised criticisms?"

He agreed with Todd's sentiment that the corporate giant was none too keen on getting mixed up in New York City politics. "They couldn't handle the heat in the kitchen," said de Blasio.

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While the mayor placed the blame for the deal's failings squarely on Amazon, he did urge progressive politicians to "show working people that we will get more for them" by grasping opportunities like the one Amazon initially presented.

Watch the interview here. Tim O'Donnell

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.