(PresidentialInsider.com)- California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom finds himself at the center of yet another controversy regarding him violating his own mask mandate.
On Sunday, Newsome was photographed without a mask while he was attending the NFL Championship Game between the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers. The event was held at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.
The California governor took pictures with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Magic Johnson, an NBA legend who’s also a part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The problem with that photo is that Los Angeles County, where Inglewood is located, requires all people to wear masks for any outdoor event at which at least 5,000 people are attending.
Republican state Senator Melissa Melendez was one of many people who expressed outrage at Newsom for this selfish — and illegal — act. She tweeted on Monday:
“Toddlers are being forced to wear masks all day long in school. Maybe one day they’ll be governor or the mayor of LA and they won’t have to follow the rules they impose on others.”
Newsom tried to defend his actions on Monday, telling reporters that he only took his mask off so that he could take the photographs with Johnson. He said that the “rest of the time, I wore it — and as we all should. And I encourage everyone else to do so
“I was trying to be gracious, took the mask off for a brief second. But no, I encourage people to continue to wear them.”
So, in other words, everyone else should follow the rules and wear masks at all times. But, it’s OK for Newsom to not do it, because he was only doing it for a quick minute while he was taking a completely necessary photo with Magic Johnson.
Newsom could have gotten around the mandate if he were drinking or eating while the photos were being taken — but neither he nor Magic was.
The governor’s communications director, Erin Mellon, tried to come to Newsom’s defense, saying:
“The Governor acknowledged that he took off his mask for a few moments during Sunday’s game. He continues to encourage all Californians to do their part to get through the pandemic and this latest surge, including wearing a mask and getting vaccinated.”
This is the second time during the pandemic that Newsom has been photographed violating mask mandates in his own state.
In late 2020, he was photographed attending a private and extravagant dinner party at a restaurant. He and many others can be seen tightly-packed together and all not wearing masks — at a time when the pandemic was raging and vaccines weren’t even available yet.
What made that matter worse is the party apparently happened a few hours after the governor pushed new state guidelines that discouraged people from attending gatherings that included more than three separate households.
