The tiff between Mayor Bloomberg and the wife of the late diet guru, Dr. Robert Atkins, burst into open warfare yesterday when the mayor told the angry widow to “lighten up.”
Bloomberg’s coldhearted attempt to humor came hours after a visibly shaken Veronica Atkins appeared on national television to castigate the mayor for callously attacking her late husband earlier this week as “fat” and questioning how he died.
Veronica Atkins said Bloomberg should be ashamed and she demanded on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that he publicly apologize for his crass comments about the diet doctor.
“I was very, very hurt, and I was angry,” she told the network’s Diane Sawyer. “I’m sick and tired of my husband being always maligned and his life’s work being trivialized.”
But the mayor – who critics say can’t relate to average New Yorkers – refused to say he’s sorry.
“I don’t think there is anything to apologize for when you tell a joke,” the mayor said on ABC’s “Eyewitness News Up Close with Diana Williams,” which will air tomorrow. “I can’t go around apologizing for every single thing.”
Bloomberg added, “I think my answer is lighten up a little bit and you should watch what you eat . . . Nobody is trying to hurt Mrs. Atkins or Dr. Atkins.”
A spokesman for Veronica Atkins refused to comment last night.
The Bloomberg-Atkins brouhaha began on Tuesday, when the mayor labeled the low-carb guru “fat” while he was dining with a group of burly Brooklyn firefighters.
The mayor’s comments were filmed by a NY1 cameraman and heard by a Post reporter.
Bloomberg also said he doubted that a slip on an icy piece of pavement caused Atkins’ death. The cause is listed on the death certificate as a head injury.
“I don’t believe that bulls- – – that [Atkins] dropped dead slipping on the sidewalk. Yeah, right!” Bloomberg told the firefighters as he wolfed down a full plate of pasta.
After the mayor repeatedly refused to apologize this week, Veronica Atkins scolded Bloomberg on “Good Morning America” for trashing her husband’s legacy.
She looked directly into the camera and said: “You did it and I demand an apology, because [you have] hurt thousands of people, millions of people who believe in Dr. Atkins’ work . . . Shame on you.”
She also denied that Dr. Atkins had any health problems that would have caused him to slip on the ice or that he’d had a heart attack prior to his fall.
“His arteries were clear,” Atkins said. “He died from severe trauma to his head.”