Sean Hannity Defends De Blasio's Gym Trips In Combative Interview

NEW YORK — Mayor Bill de Blasio and the conservative pundit Sean Hannity can agree on at least one thing: Hizzoner's right to work out in Brooklyn.

Hannity defended de Blasio's frequent trips from the Upper East Side to the Prospect Park YMCA during a combative and wide-ranging Wednesday night interview on Hannity's Fox News show.

"You have every right to go to Brooklyn eight miles away to do your stupid workout," Hannity told the Democratic mayor. (De Blasio's favored gym is actually an 11-mile drive from his residence at Gracie Mansion.)

"That was stupid. I’m defending you," Hannity added before hectoring the mayor over his plan to expand vegetarian lunches in public schools.

De Blasio has faced persistent derision throughout his tenure for taking a city-owned car from upper Manhattan to the Park Slope YMCA for a late-morning exercise.

The gym has also turned into a venue for New Yorkers to air their grievances with the mayor. Neighbors tried unsuccessfully to discourage him from running for president by posting flyers there that read, "By entering these premises you agree not to run for President of the United States in 2020 or in any future presidential race."

And protesters have confronted him inside about housing and criminal justice reform. He once walked away from a homeless woman imploring him to create more affordable apartments for people like her.

Hannity's defense of de Blasio's workout habits was a rare concession in an otherwise testy interview between two political figures with diametrically opposed ideologies.

The mayor frequently pushed back on Hannity's framing of issues such as gun control, immigration and New York City's efforts to make buildings more energy-efficient. For instance, de Blasio sidestepped the host's question about whether law-abiding, mentally healthy New Yorkers have the right to own a gun.

"I ain't buying what you're selling," the mayor said as he emphasized the importance of the police in keeping people safe.

De Blasio has frequently criticized Fox News and its parent company, News Corporation, for sowing political division and stirring racial discord.

But his interview with Hannity — who is reportedly an informal adviser to President Donald Trump — set him apart among the roughly two dozen Democratic White House hopefuls. Hannity said de Blasio is so far the only one "brave enough to come on this program."

Watch Hannity and de Blasio's exchange about the mayor's gym trips and "Meatless Mondays" here.