Earlier this week we told you about a New York magazine article in which Mayor Michael Bloomberg is quoted as saying "look at the ass on her," referring to a woman at a holiday party. We also told you about the many other times Bloomberg has been accused of sexism throughout his career, including once reportedly telling his employees, "If women wanted to be appreciated for their brains, they'd go to the library instead of to Bloomingdale's."

Today, in a press conference about public housing, New York Observer reporter Hunter Walker asked the mayor about his "ass" comment. Not only did Bloomberg deny ever saying it, he called Walker's inquiry "an outrage":

Politicker asked the mayor about the comment at a press conference this morning announcing new measures to eliminate a backlog of maintenance claims in New York City's public housing system.

"I never said it and I don't know where it came from, next question," the mayor replied tersely.

 After the piece in New York Magazine, Gawker published a report reviewing past allegations of "sexist remarks" by mayor Bloomberg that surfaced prior to his tenure in City Hall through lawsuits against his company, Bloomberg LP, in the late 1990′s and a 2001 New York Times story. We pressed the point and asked the mayor whether he rejected the characterization of the quote as part of a pattern of sexist remarks.

"OK, you can write anything you want," Mayor Bloomberg said. "Don't be ridiculous, that's an outrage for you to say that."

I emailed the writer who first penned the story in which Bloomberg is quoted, Jonathan Van Meter, who told me that he had no comment and preferred to "let the piece speak for itself." Fair enough, though it's worth noting that Van Meter is gay and probably wasn't too interested in looking at a woman's ass anyway.

[Image via AP]