Gavin Newsom defends himself after he’s busted partying maskless at NFL game

"Given your history with this issue, should you maybe have reconsidered taking the mask off for the photo for the image, the message that it might send?" asked a reporter from Fox 11.

"Yeah, of course. I was trying to be gracious and I made a mis-, ya know. I was trying to be gracious and took the mask off for a brief second. But no, I encourage people to continue to wear them."

Newsom then commented on how the high positivity rate for testing is something he considers to be a "good sign," due to the declining hospitalization rates, among other factors.

He continued, saying that the state was hoping to move to an "endemic plan" instead of a pandemic plan, but also warned, ironically that "we all must be vigilant."

In fact, this is hardly the first time Newsom has appeared maskless in photos or video since the start of the pandemic. Back in Feb 2021, video surfaced of him going maskless at a party at the swanky French Laundry restaurant.

Newsom also claimed in the video that, aside from the photo with Magic Johnson, he only took his mask off to "drink water", but that has already proven to be false:

Then, in Oct 2021, history repeated itself. Newsom was once again maskless, this time at another upscale dining establishment in DC, and in direct violation of that city's strict mask mandate.