Photo via @MattBinder/Twitter
December 22, 2020, 1:50 pm
Video has surfaced from the Whitestone Republican Club Christmas party in New York where mostly white old people were dancing around in a not-huge indoor space, without masks, and definitely less than six feet from one another. Journalist Matt Binder highlighted a particular segment when the party-goers formed a sort-of conga line, dancing with Donald Trump-level skill, led by a baby-faced guy holding a “Keep America Great” flag.
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If you’re good at dancing or are at all cool, brace yourself. This might hurt.
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According to the Queens Daily Eagle, the party was held on December 9 and was attended by city council candidate Vickie Paladino—a far-right anti-vaxxer, anti-masker, and general COVID-denier. Her last tweet on her candidate account declared mask and social distancing requirements as an attempt to kill small businesses.
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In spite of all of this, the Whitestone Republican Club has claimed that they broke no COVID mandates with this party because it was held before New York reinstated bans on indoor dining. This may be true, but we’re pretty sure they still violated mask mandates.
“We held an intimate gathering observing all the COVID guidelines in place at the time,” said spokesperson Robert Hornak. “Every attendee was told to wear a mask, and everyone had one when entering, or was given one.”
And then they didn’t wear them.
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The owner of the venue, Il Bacco Ristorante, also defended the party before admitting that she thinks the current rules in place to protect people from COVID are a “disgrace.”
“The current rules, I think, they’re a disgrace, and if people are scared of the virus, they should just stay home,” said Tina Maria Oppedisano. “People have had enough and just want to conduct their business.”
Actual people, however, are on Twitter expressing how much they just want the pandemic to end and also editing the video to fill it with coronaviruses.
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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo also issued an on-brand response to the video after viewing it himself.
“I saw the video. Covid conga lines are not smart. That is my official position,” he said. “Why you would do an unmasked Covid conga line in the middle of a pandemic defies logical explanation.”
*First Published: December 22, 2020, 1:50 pm
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