A member of the White House’s Coronavirus Task Force bragged Friday night about violating the “stay-at-home” rules that his public health colleagues have said are crucial to slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Larry Kudlow, the White House economic adviser, let the story slip during an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham.
“I’m also going to confess, I had a hair trim yesterday,” Kudlow told Ingraham.
The Fox News host had just finished an interview with a barber in Georgia, where several types of businesses recently re-opened per an order from the governor. (Even the President, who initially supported the move to reopen some businesses in Georgia, reversed himself recently, saying Wednesday that he “totally” disagreed with the move.)
“It was kind of a special deal,” Kudlow told Ingraham. “Friends of ours — you know this person, but I’m not gonna mention any names. She got her hairdresser to come in and open up her barbershop, and the guy gave me a pretty good trim.”
“I don’t have much to work with,” the White House adviser acknowledged. “But it looks much better because I wanted it to look good on the Laura Ingraham Show. That was the key point and here I am. I had no temperature this morning coming into the White House, I tested negative last week, I feel fine.”
“You’re special, you got a haircut,” Ingraham snarked at the White House adviser, who mouthed “I’m sorry,” before the Fox News host moved on with the interview.
"It was kind of a special deal": White House Coronavirus Task Force member Larry Kudlow says he got a haircut to look good on Fox News. pic.twitter.com/WKx0BgoR4d
— Matt Shuham (@mattshuham) April 25, 2020
Kudlow isn’t alone in skirting COVID-19 orders. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was criticized earlier this month after pictures of her getting a haircut despite Illinois’ stay-at-home order surfaced publicly.
Early on in the COVID-19 crisis, Kudlow repeatedly downplayed the severity of the disease in his capacity as a White House official, advertising stock opportunities amid the economic downturn that accompanied the pandemic.
He was also a source of misinformation about the disease: “We have contained this,” he said in late February. “I won’t say airtight, but pretty close to airtight.”
Around the same time, the White House adviser falsely said that the World Health Organization director-general had urged the public not to overreact to the disease. In reality, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom said the coronavirus disease “absolutely” had the potential to become a global pandemic.
H/t Yahoo News
