Pro-mask Illinois mayor shamed by niece for flying to Florida to for daughter’s wedding with 50 ‘unmasked’ guests
AN ILLINOIS mayor was shamed on Twitter by his niece after he attended his daughter’s wedding in Florida despite being warning his constituents of a mask mandate to curb the coronavirus.
“I can’t believe I have to say this but if you are HAVING A WEDDING THIS WEEKEND WITH UNMASKED PEOPLE IN ATTENDANCE something is wrong with you!!!!” wrote Kristen Chirico, subtweeting her uncle, Naperville Mayor Steve Chirico.
Steve Chirico was on the receiving end of some public shaming by his niece, a former Buzzfeed employee, for attending his daughter’s wedding in Naples, Florida, in a ceremony with a guest list of well over 50 people.
A photo of the mayor and others at the wedding also began spreading over Twitter, showing neither the mayor nor others wearing masks.
After Kristen Chirico’s tweet went viral, people began asking to whom she was referring to with the tweet. Doubling down, Kristen tweeted, “This is about my uncle Steve Chirico, the mayor of Naperville, IL, and his wife, and several of his kids that are all at a wedding right now with at least 50 people at it.”
“I actually don’t need to protect these people, because they don’t think they’ve done anything wrong,” she continued. “And maybe they’ll be mad but also maybe we might save some lives so I’m willing to roll the dice on this.”
After catching wind of his niece’s tweets, the mayor sent out his own statement, saying he and his family were not to blame.
“My family and I all took COVID tests and tested negative prior to traveling to Florida this weekend for my daughter Jenna’s wedding,” Mayor Chirico said in a statement. “It was an outdoor wedding and reception with a total of 53 guests. Upon my return to Naperville, I will be quarantining and testing again.”
The mayor’s fiasco also caught the attention of his colleagues, including Democratic Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker.
At his briefing Monday morning, the governor said the mayor’s actions are the opposite of what the government is advocating. “That’s precisely what we ask people not to do,” he said.
Chirico also got some backlash from those on his side of the aisle, including former Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeanne Ives, who said Chirico “is proving to be just like all the other hypocrite Democrats in this state.”
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“More egregious is when he took a knee to a mob of people he didn’t know this summer insinuating that he sided with them against policing and then afterwards he allowed his city to be vandalized by thugs,” she continued. “Total disgrace.”
Steve Chirico, elected mayor in 2015 of Illinois’ third-largest city, has been a lifelong Republican, but supported Joe Biden over President Trump in the election.
He also has been a vocal supporter of wearing masks and Covid-19 precautions, including sharing the phrase “safer at home” and advocating for people to wear masks.