DeSantis fundraises off video of him chiding students for wearing masks

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) sent out an email Thursday fundraising off of a viral video of him chiding a group of students for wearing masks during a news conference. 

The email blasted the “corrupt and biased legacy media” for going after the governor over his claim that “masks are political theater.”

DeSantis’s Twitter account also released a video of his comments spliced with Family Guy memes, claiming hypocrisy among Democrats who have recently appeared in public without masks. 

“While in Tampa, I told a group of students masks were ridiculous, and they didn’t have to wear them if they didn’t want to,” the email said. “Predictably, the leftist propagandists in our media had a meltdown and called me a ‘bully’ for allowing children to breathe fresh air.” 

“Let’s not forget that just 36 hours ago, Joe Biden and the radical Democrat hypocrites were parading around the Capitol without masks, and without so much as a peep from the corporate press, but suddenly permitting children to unmask is “unacceptable,” the email continued, referring to Biden’s State of the Union address. 

DeSantis received backlash on Wednesday after the video circulated of his visit to the University of South Florida. 

“You do not have to wear those masks,” DeSantis said to the students. “I mean, please take them off. Honestly, it’s not doing anything and we’ve gotta stop with this COVID theater. So if you want to wear it, fine, but this is ridiculous.”

DeSantis, who is currently running for reelection, has been a leading opponent of mask mandates in state schools; threatening to withhold funding from schools districts that still implement them.  

Nine U.S. states have lifted their mask mandate this year, many led by Democratic governors, citing the recent decrease of COVID-19 cases. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week eased its mask recommendation for most Americans, advising that individuals living in communities with “low” or “medium” COVID-19 risk can go maskless.