DeSantis Doubles Down on ‘COVID Theater’ Comments

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) is doubling down on a recent exchange with University of Southern Florida students over wearing masks. Earlier this week, the Governor held a press conference at the university to discuss a $20 million plan to improve cybersecurity education across the state. Before taking the podium to speak,

Governor DeSantis told nearby masked students that they could remove their masks because “we gotta stop with this COVID theater.” The Governor drew negative attention stemming from his remarks, but now DeSantis is blaming “the corrupt and biased legacy media” for skewing his comments.

Calling masks “political theater,” DeSantis explained that he “told a group of students masks were ridiculous, and they didn’t have to wear them if they didn’t want to.” As a result, the Governor expressed that “the leftist propagandists in our media had a meltdown and called me a ‘bully’ for allowing children to breathe fresh air.”

Gubernatorial hopeful Rep. Charlie Crist (D) took to social media to criticize the Governor, calling him “egotistical” for his comments directed to the students.

However, DeSantis is directing people to the president’s State of the Union address.

“Let’s not forget that just 36 hours ago, Joe Biden and the radical Democrat hypocrites were parading around the Capitol without masks, and without so much as a peep from the corporate press, but suddenly permitting children to unmask is ‘unacceptable,” said DeSantis.

He further questioned, “where was the media meltdown when failed gubernatorial candidate Stacy Abrams recently took a maskless photo in front of students who were forced to wear masks?”

The Florida Governor has opposed mask mandates in the state, which has garnered disapproval from Democrats in Florida. Instead, he expressed that “the legacy media and the left want young people to wear cloth masks in perpetuity – regardless of the harm.”