EAST HAMPTON, NY – Five days ago, Cristina Cuomo, New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s sister-in-law posted a video on Instagram to advertise the opening of a new Jimmy Choo store in East Hampton, New York.
The video opens with a shot of Cuomo playing with her “Don Lemon mask” just before removing it to get in a plug for her magazine, “Purist”, featuring a cover photo of CNN personality Don Lemon.
With her mask off, Cuomo joins her yoga coach, Erika, who quickly removes her mask as well.
The two then spend some time playing at being spokesmodels for Jimmy Choo before doing an hour-long yoga session. All this while ignoring social distancing and mask guidelines for New York state.
Watching the video might be difficult for people who are annoyed by the constant repetition of the phrase “Jimmy Choo Shoes”, or those who recognize flagrant product flocking when they see it.
That said, it’s great to see a couple of people exercising in a semi-public space after four months of downtime for gym rats, yoga fiends, and everyone else. The problem is that not everyone has the same luxurious suite of options available to the governor’s sister-in-law.
She can do yoga with a trainer indoors and without a mask, less than six feet apart (to fit in the narrow frame of the cell phone used to make the video), in a fancy shop closed just for her. How many other New Yorkers have the same privilege?
The video was criticized by some commenters, who pointed out the difficulties of running a gym when all gyms have been ordered closed in the state of New York for the past four months. One, user _taragordon, pointed out:
“If any of us had done that we’d have been fined and potentially lost our business”.
Another user, momentumfitnessnyc, wrote, “we are all slowly suffocating to death. Please use your power and direct line to the Governor to advocate for small gyms or else we will not be able to support our families as well as help those in our communities. PLEASE HELP US!”
Gyms and fitness studios in New York state are among the hardest hit of all businesses in the state. The coronavirus lockdown orders have been hard on everyone but over the past few months, most businesses have been able to partially or completely open, though with some restrictions. Even malls opened last week. Gyms and fitness studios, however, remain closed.
Gyms like Phoenix Fitness in Tuckahoe, Tovami Yoga in Mamaroneck, Beacon Pilates in Dutchess County and over 2,000 other fitness-related businesses in New York have filed a class action lawsuit against the state of New York.
The suit seeks to bar the state from preventing indoor operation of their facilities. Without that, many will likely go out of business, some within days, a couple of months for others. Some have already closed their doors for good.
Cuomo’s impromptu yoga session at Jimmy Choo’s new shop in East Hampton was exhilarating because it reminds us of what life was like before covid-related government restrictions totally changed the way we lived our lives.
It is also tone deaf because so many people are not only suffering from continuing restrictions, but cannot with any measure of security “bend the rules” as Cuomo appears to have done.
The appearance here is that if your name is Cuomo, you don’t have to worry about a fine or losing your business license. For everyone else, we can only wish our lives could get back to normal. Jimmy Choo take note: there are better spokesmodels out there.
You might want to check them out.
Speaking of hypocrites in New York … how about Mayor de Blasio?
Mayor Bill de Blasio apparently has two sets of rules when it comes to social distancing – children going to playgrounds is bad, but protesting by the thousands is just fine.
There’s really not much Mayor de Blasio can do at this point for New York City residents to take his COVID-19 guidelines seriously anymore.
He literally has embraced protests that have ignored the COVID measures enacted within the city, but the mayor is still shaking his fingers at people wanting their kids to go to the park.
The @NYCMayor
– Embraced unchecked protests which are against the law (no permits; blocking roadways).
– Does not keep demanding distancing at protests.
– Told Contact Tracers not to ask about protests.
– Says children at parks against the rules is a problem for Coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/ZWykZkgK15
— Yossi Gestetner (@YossiGestetner) June 16, 2020
Maybe if the parents just called it a “protest” when taking their children to the park it wouldn’t be such an issue.
On June 15th, locals witnessed parks in none other than Jewish neighborhoods having their local park gates welded shut.
Hey Deblasio (sorry, I meant Kaiser Warren Wilhem), how do you explain the mass gathering outside the Brooklyn Museum the other day? Oh right, I forgot, cause it’s only the Jews that you want to go after. pic.twitter.com/P9fuBmRLjq
— sol l (@szlava97) June 15, 2020
Some have taken to Twitter to point out how hard de Blasio came down on the Jewish community last month during a funeral they attended when COVID-19 was in peak season of discussion, while comparing a photo of thousands outside of the Brooklyn Museum on June 14th.
Thus, in response, many from the Orthodox Jew community decided that they’re going to re-open the parks – with or without the blessing of the mayor.
Based Orthodox Jews reject de Blasio’s hypocritical orders to close the park (for social distancing) and cut the locks so their kids can play. pic.twitter.com/msAafBjqY6
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) June 15, 2020
During a press conference when the mayor was asked about his take on community members re-opening the parks that were welded shut, de Blasio stated the following:
“We are not going to allow people to take the law into their own hands. It just doesn’t work. So, people are not allowed to open up a playground that is not yet available to the public.”
The mayor stated that parks are only going to resume normal operations once “Phase 2” of the city’s re-opening commences, but if people keep going to the playground then the second phase could get stalled because the “disease” could “start spreading again”:
“I understand people’s frustrations. But if folks act prematurely and that causes the disease to start spreading again, then that’s the kind of thing that undermines our ability to get to Phase Two.”
So, the mayor is saying that a playground is dangerous business and could cause COVID to “start spreading again” – but, thousands congregating among the streets and outside museums is not receiving criticism to that degree from de Blasio.
Even New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, put on the top of his naughty list the likes of bars and restaurants opening up in the state.
We have received 25,000 complaints of reopening violations.
Bars or restaurants that violate the law can lose their liquor license.
People with open containers in the street can be fined.
Police & protesters not wearing masks can be fined.
Local gov’t must enforce the law.
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) June 14, 2020
While Governor Cuomo did mention in his tweet that “police & protesters not wearing masks can be fined,” it was among the bottom of his list of re-opening violation gripes.
It needn’t take a rocket scientist to note that an outdoor congregation of thousands is substantially more risky behavior than someone having a beer at a local pub where maybe less than 10 people are present.
The hypocrisy of guidelines and enforcement in New York City related to the pandemic has gotten just laughable at this point.
Remember the announcement of the whole contact-tracing endeavor in early May in New York? Turns out you won’t have to divulge if you’ve been in a protest.
De Blasio’s ‘Contact Tracing Team’ Isn’t Allowed To Ask COVID-19 Patients If They Attended A Protest https://t.co/biLclaVFQL
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 15, 2020
“If you test positive, you’ll receive a call from a Contact Tracer who will:
“Determine if you need more medical attention
“Offer services to safely separate at home or at a hotel, including meals and medication
“Create a list of everyone you had contact with (less than 6 feet for more than 10 minutes) since shortly before the onset of symptoms, including family, friends and coworkers so that they can be directed to the help they may need.”
Such contacts at anti-police protests, however, will not be examined, unless they happen to be volunteered by the person being interviewed.
De Blasio spokesperson Avery Cohen noted:
“No person will be asked proactively if they attended a protest. If a person wants to proactively offer that information, there is opportunity for them to do so.”
None of the guidelines are making any sense at this point, because they can seemingly be subverted if you just walk around NYC and chant along with whatever the protesters are saying.
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