Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is facing widespread backlash and a few questions about double standards. On Monday, photos of Lightfoot and her hairstylist started circulating on social media after she apparently got a haircut over the weekend.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Lightfoot acknowledged getting the haircut, even as the city (and the entire state) is under a stay-at-home order, and non-essential businesses such as hair salons and barbers were shuttered, to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19 that is currently rampaging through the nation.
Lightfoot then defended her actions, saying that she appears in public often and that she was adhering to social distancing guidelines as the stylist wore a mask and gloves (although in the pictures there were none).
“I think what really people want to talk about is, we’re talking about people dying here. We’re talking about significant health disparities. I think that’s what people care most about,” Lightfoot said.
“The woman who cut my hair had a mask and gloves on so we are, I am practicing what I’m preaching,” the mayor insisted.
As the Tribune points out, the mayor has been a part of public service announcements urging people to “stay home, save lives.” In one such PSA, Lightfoot tells a person off-screen, “getting your roots done is not essential.”
When questioned about that particular jab, given the circumstances, Lightfoot countered, “I’m the public face of this city. I’m on national media and I’m out in the public eye.”
“I’m a person who, I take my personal hygiene very seriously. As I said, I felt like I needed to have a haircut,” she added. “I’m not able to do that myself, so I got a haircut. You want to talk more about that?”
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