Louis C.K. Might Have Called WNYC to Defend Bill de Blasio and Blast Media

Comedian Louis C.K. might've blasted the New York press corps for its "clickbait" motives that drive it to unfairly criticize Mayor Bill de Blasio in a call to WNYC Tuesday, the station said.

Host Brian Lehrer helmed a 29-minute segment on the way people perceive the mayor and at minute 18:40 in the broadcast threw to a caller named "Louis in the Village," who sounded like the comedian who shadowed de Blasio on Aug. 4.

Hold the press, we're pretty sure Louis C.K. just called into the @BrianLehrer show...anyone else hear that? Can someone text him and ask?

— WNYC (@WNYC) August 18, 2015

The call from "Louis in the Village" (pronounced like the major Missouri city and not the title character in the comedian's show "Louie") came five days after the mayor spent 80 minutes at the gym instead of rushing to the hospital bed of a firefighter shot during a standoff with a gang leader.

"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," said the caller.

"You want a guy or a woman who just does good and then moves on to the next thing. But the press today, they don't make any money articles about, 'Look this job number's up.' They make money on articles about, 'Hey, look at this little pointless gaffe that the mayor did,'" "Louis in the Village" said.

The caller said stories of de Blasio's perceived gaffes don't "impact people's lives" and are largely irrelevant.

The mayor's drawn heat since he took office for his frequent tardiness, once blaming a "rough night" for missing a memorial service for a plane crash that killed more than 200 people.

A senior aide in the de Blasio administration also took a leave of office when DNAinfo New York reported that her live-in boyfriend was previously convicted for manslaughter and drug trafficking.

And civil rights advocates blasted the mayor for cordoning off protesters to a "free speech zone," hundreds of feet from an event he was attending.

"Louis in the Village" also said that the press' focus on the mayor is a distraction, "so they don't have to take on the cops, so they don't have to try big moves which are sometimes embarrassing and difficult and unpopular with powerful people."