Los Angeles Mayor — and Biden Administration ambassadorial nominee — Eric Garcetti today defended his actions after maskless photos surfaced of him and Lakers great Magic Johnson, along with San Francisco Mayor London Breed, at SoFi Stadium last weekend for the NFC Championship game.
Johnson tweeted later a series photos of the event that featured him and others in a luxurious box overlooking the field. Garcetti, Breed, and California Governor Gavin Newsom were included. The photos show none of the participants wearing masks despite an order from the local public health officer requiring them to wear masks during outdoor activities. “mega events,”Except when “actively eating or drinking.”Johnson is considered high-risk for Covid because of his HIV status.
Today, at an afternoon press conference to go over safety and security for next week’s Super Bowl, which is also to be held at SoFi, Garcetti said he held his breath to take the photo.
“I’ll take personal responsibility,” said Garcetti in answer to a reporter’s question about the photos, “and if it makes you and everyone else happy — or even the photographs with people where literally I’m holding my breath for two seconds — I won’t even do that.”
On Monday, a Garcetti spokesman Submitted to ABC7, “He was wearing a mask at the game and removed it for a brief moment to take a few photos.”
Even so, Garcetti defended L.A.’s mask mandate because, he pointed out, the region is still experiencing a high rate of transmission.
Los Angeles County Public Health officials have repeatedly reminded people that they must wear masks at mega events and outdoor gatherings in the past two weeks.
You can hang out at SoFi Stadium right now! pic.twitter.com/XfotiRLGz9
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) January 31, 2022
Newsom said Monday that he did not remove his mask in order to photograph the issue.
“You’re correct,”He said this when he was asked about going maskless to SoFi. “I was very judicious yesterday. Very judicious. You’ll see the photo that I did take, Magic was kind enough, generous enough, to ask me for a photograph and in my left hand’s the mask and I took the photo. The rest of the time I wore it as we all should, um — not when I had a glass of water — and I encourage everybody else to do so. And, uh, that’s it.”
In the photo of the two which Johnson posted, however, there is no mask in Newsom’s left hand. It is possible that the image was flipped before it was published.
When asked if it was right for him to remove his masking considering his history with this issue the governor replied, “Yes, of course. I was trying to be gracious. I made a mis — I was trying to be gracious. I took the mask off for a brief second but, no, I encourage people to continue to wear them.”
However, the footage that was shown during the game seemed to show a completely different story. It begins with a shot of a maskless Jessica Alba before cutting to a smiling Magic Johnson as a man who appears from the back to be the governor — similar height, similar trucker hat, similar navy blue fleece — walks up and moves to slap hands. Neither Johnson — who given his age and HIV status is in a high risk category for Covid — nor the man who approaches him are wearing masks. There have been other photos of Newsom since, both with and sans a mask.
Jessica Alba, Magic Johnson & Leonardo DiCaprio at the game #nfl #LARams #49ers pic.twitter.com/3njIHlipjF
— Breaking Trends News (@breakingtrendsn) January 31, 2022