People on social media were quick to criticize many celebrities not wearing masks while attending Sunday's Super Bowl in Inglewood, California, including Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, despite Los Angeles County's mask mandate, which remains in effect.
Author, lawyer and radio host Clay Travis made a video of several celebrities sans mask at Sunday's game, including Jay-Z, Matt Damon, Charlize Theron, LeBron James, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.
Another post showed Garcetti talking with a group of people without a mask despite his city's own mandate, and in contradiction of NFL policy for those attending the game.
"I think this is just increasingly frustrating for Americans as this 'rules for thee, but not for me' nonsense occurs,'' Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, told ''Fox & Friends'' on Monday. ''Eric Garcetti said he was just holding his breath. I'm sure all these celebrities were holding their breath the entire time."
According to the mandate for Los Angeles County, ''everyone, regardless of vaccination status, must wear a mask.''
The mandate specifically mandates masks for everyone indoors in public ''settings, venues, gatherings, and public and private businesses'' in the county.
In addition to the county's mandate, the NFL specifically stated the requirements for game attendees on its website, saying that every attendee is required to comply with the county's COVID-19 protocols to enter SoFi Stadium, and everyone age 2 and older were required to wear masks in addition to providing either vaccine certification or a negative PCR test within 24 hours of the game for those age 5 and older.
The only time the masks could be removed were when people were ''actively eating or drinking,'' according to the NFL website.
"They really don't believe the masks work, or they are effective in these cases,'' Crenshaw said. ''They know that people can go out and live their lives. They will continue to do it and not note the hypocrisy that they are engaging in."
Another social media post by the ''Libs of Tik Tok'' showed talk show host Ellen DeGeneres posting a selfie without a mask, while requiring the audiences attending her show to wear them.
''Ellen is enjoying the Super Bowl without a mask, yet she still requires her audience wear a mask,'' the post said. ''Hypocrite.''
Crenshaw said that the celebrities are just using mask mandates as a ''virtue signal'' rather than a genuine concern about the virus, but the impact on kids that are still forced to wear them is where the issue gets bad.
"It only gets really serious with our kids,'' he said. ''Our kids need to be unmasked immediately. It is absolutely ridiculous this is happening. Follow the science. Kids don't need to be masked."
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