Eric Garcetti was criticized for his photo of Magic Johnson wearing a mask in a public photograph. However, Garcetti downplayed the incident and stated that he only held his breath while interacting with Johnson.
Johnson posted a picture on social media showing himself and Garcetti with London Breed, the San Francisco Mayor of London Breed. The image was taken during Sunday’s NFC Championship match.
“You can hang out today at SoFi Stadium!” Johnson captioned a series of images that also showed California Governor Gavin Newsom and numerous other pro-mandate politicians posing for pictures in a similar manner.
Los Angeles County has a mask mandate “in all indoor public settings” and at “outdoor Mega Events” such as sporting events.
Hanging out at SoFi Stadium today! pic.twitter.com/XfotiRLGz9
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) January 31, 2022
RELATED: CA Gov. Newsom, LA, and San Fran Mayors all Take Photographs Maskless at NFL Game
Garcetti: I Was Holding My Breath
Garcetti and the other Democrat politicians involved in the photoshoot were on the receiving end of a fair amount of scrutiny for disregarding their own masking requirements and the arena’s policy.
Garcetti though, offered a unique and eyebrow-raising defense for his actions, while condescendingly taking responsibility to make the critics “happy.”
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“I’ll take personal responsibility and if it makes you and everybody else happy or even the photographs with people where I’m literally holding my breath for two seconds I won’t even do that,” he promised.
Fun fact: Japanese “ama” (female pearl divers) can hold their breath for up to two minutes while swimming underwater.
Not so fun fact: politicians aren’t usually pearl divers. https://t.co/QEcfh2LwEU— Glenn Jacobs (@GlennJacobsTN) February 3, 2022
Dr. Gregory Poland, a Mayo Clinic professor of medicine and infectious diseases and director of the Mayo Clinic’s vaccine research group, told the Star Tribune that holding your breath is no substitute for mask-wearing.
Poland added that holding your breath, as Eric Garcetti uses as a defense for his actions, can actually be counterproductive because the person will likely exhale forcefully when they’re done.
If you’re infected and don’t know it, “you have now spread that virus for about 30 feet around you,” Poland said.
MIT Medical describes the technique of holding one’s breath to avoid spreading COVID as “not at all helpful.”
Eric Garcetti told the media that he kept his breath during the photos taken of him in the maskless football games. Yes, his defense is he didn’t exhale.
— Kevin Kiley (@KevinKileyCA) February 3, 2022
RELATED: AOC Says She’s Been Avoiding Twitter Due To ‘Anxiety’ After Being Criticized For Getting COVID And Partying Maskless In Florida
Hypocrites who use weapons-grade materials
London Breed, San Francisco Mayor, has been an inexplicable violator of mask mandates within her city.
Breed was caught dancing indoors in tight quarters while catching a live jazz show back in September, violating her city’s mask mandate.
She blasted critics of her hypocrisy, bashing the “fun police” and saying her actions were permissible because she was “feeling the spirit” at the time.
San Francisco Mayor @LondonBreedShe defends her violation of the indoor mask requirement while she partying in a club
“I was feeling the spirit and I wasn’t thinking about a mask.”pic.twitter.com/lFTFCgzihZ
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 20, 2021
Breed felt the same spirit as Governor Newsom when he ate at the French Laundry under similar conditions.
Again, evidently, the NFL game.
Newsom, meanwhile, is also a habitual offender and “rules for thee, but not for me” enthusiast.
The Democrat governor in 2020 was caught red-handed violating orders that gatherings be limited to just three households and warning that singing and shouting is “strongly discouraged” indoors.
Newsom was caught dining at a restaurant known as The French Laundry, and his party, according to reports at the time included 22 people, was held indoors, and was “so loud, other patrons complained.”
EXCLUSIVE: We’ve obtained photos of Governor Gavin Newsom at the Napa dinner party he’s in hot water over. These photos raise questions about how outdoor the meal was. The witness that took the photos said his group was loud enough to close down sliding doors. 10.30pm @FOXLA pic.twitter.com/gtOVEwa864
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) November 18, 2020
Maybe they all held their breath while taking all these pictures.
It’s more likely they’re nothing more than hypocrites who know they don’t have to follow their own rules while wining and dining with celebrities.
You see rules are not for little people.