California Gov. Gavin Newsom is catching heat as a COVID hypocrite — for attending a pricey dinner party for 12 even has he scolds state residents for socializing during a pandemic.
“I should have modeled better behavior,” Newsom said Friday, after word spread that he and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom gathered with people from multiple households at Napa’s famed French Laundry restaurant for a birthday dinner this month.
California surpassed 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases this week, the second state after Texas to do so.
News of the governor’s dinner party leaked just hours after Newsom pushed state guidelines discouraging gatherings of more than three households — and instructed Californians to alter their Thanksgiving plans accordingly.
“Is it setting a good example to do what you’re telling the rest of us not to do?” indignant Napa resident Kelly Vandenakker told KPIX News.
“Gavin Newsom seems to be talking out of both sides of his mouth,” the state GOP tweeted Friday.
