Gov. Gavin Newsom and San Francisco Mayor London Breed are under criticism after photographs surfaced of them maskless while attending the NFC Championship Game in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Newsom, Breed and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti attended the all-California NFL playoff matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium. The massive indoor venue required all patrons to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or a negative test and wear a mask at all times unless they were eating or drinking.
The three high profile politicians were pictured maskless alongside Magic Johnson, who uploaded and posted the now viral pictures to his own social media.
California requires everyone at indoor public spaces to wear masks regardless of vaccination status. San Francisco on Monday will adjust their policy where masks won’t be required at certain indoor settings if everyone is vaccinated, though they are still mandated at indoor mega-events like Warriors games inside Chase Center.
It's unclear if the politicians were wearing their masks the majority of their time at the game and only took them off for the photos. Never the less, the photos drew the ire of mostly conservatives and some school parents across social media, accusing the state leaders of hypocritically disregarding their own laws.
"If Gavin Newsom can attend an indoor mega-event MASKLESS with tens of thousands of other maskless fans, then so can our kids at school, especially when playing at recess!" Jonathan Zachreson, who's running for State Assembly, said on Twitter, on a post which has garnered close to 1,000 retweets and likes.
Richard Grenell, the former Director of National Intelligence for President Trump, quote tweeted a picture of the maskless politicians and wrote, "Stop masking California students now!"
During a press conference on Monday to address the state's investments in new housing programs, Newsom responded to the criticism by saying he only took off the mask briefly to take the photo with Johnson.
"I was very judicious yesterday," Newsom said. "In my left hand is the mask and I took a photo. The rest of the time I wore it, as we all should."
“I was trying to be gracious, I made a mis…you know. I was trying to be gracious, took the mask off for a brief second but you know I encourage people to continue to wear them.”
KCBS Radio has reached out to Breed's office for comment and has not heard back.
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