California’s first lady angered residents of her state this week who compared her to Marie Antoinette after she complained that she could not buy toilet paper due to others hoarding it during the worldwide coronavirus crisis.
Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of Governor Gavin Newsom, tweeted on Wednesday that the coronavirus lockdown has its advantages and disadvantages.
‘One rose amidst all of this – family dinners and no late night homework stress,’ Siebel Newsom tweeted on Wednesday.
‘And nice to not have kids shuffling home late from sports and activities.
‘And yes, unfortunately the thorn – we run out of toilet paper, paper towels, and Kleenex tomorrow.
‘I wish people had not hoarded.’
California’s first lady, Jennifer Siebel Newsom (seen right with husband Gavin Newsom, the state’s governor, in Sacramento in January 2019) angered Twitter users this week
Siebel Newsom on Wednesday posted a tweet complaining that she was running out of toilet paper, adding: ‘I wish people had not hoarded’
The comment about hoarding struck a nerve as Twitter users accused the state’s first lady of being tone-deaf in light of mass panic, illnesses, and death caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
‘That’s mighty privileged of you,’ tweeted Jennifer Oliver O’Connell.
‘Tell your husband that some of us can’t even afford to hoard because #AB5 has disallowed us the ability to work.
‘Getting paper products are now a hardship, along with everything else.’
O’Connell was referring to Assembly Bill 5, a bill signed into law by Newsom that bans many companies from hiring independent contractors instead of permanent employees with benefits.
The controversial law, which was enacted to target gig economy companies like Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash, has been criticized by freelance employees in several industries, saying it puts their livelihood at risk.
Others on Twitter also took issue with Siebel Newsom’s tweet.
‘Yes, lovely isn’t it?’ tweeted one Twitter user.
‘Shame about grandma’s death, but we got some pajama time with the kiddos!’
Another Twitter user commented: ‘Marie Antoinette chimes in…’
Marie Antoinette was the last queen of France before the French Revolution in the late 1700s.
The phrase ‘let them eat cake’ is attributed to her as a sign of condescension by the wealthy and powerful toward the common people.
On Twitter, Californians were none too pleased, accusing Siebel Newsom of being out of touch with the concerns of everyday citizens
Others on Twitter compared Siebel Newsom to Marie Antoinette, the 18th century French queen who has become synonymous with elitist snobbery
Another California resident mentioned that Siebel Newsom’s husband signed into law a measure that bans companies from hiring independent contractors without giving them full benefits of permanent employees, a controversial measure criticized by freelancers
Other Twitter users mentioned the rampant homeless problem in California
‘Shame about grandma’s hideous death, but we got some pajama time with the kiddos!’ tweeted one Twitter user
‘The wealthy and the privileged hoard the test kits,’ tweeted one Twitter user. ‘The rest of us hoard what we can’
Others on Twitter mentioned the vulnerable homeless population of California, which is exposed to the coronavirus and lacks adequate preventative measures to stop it from spreading.
‘The wealthy and the privileged hoard the test kits,’ tweeted one Twitter user. ‘The rest of us hoard what we can.’
During the outbreak, several high-profile professional athletes in the NBA as well as Hollywood celebrities have been able to take a diagnostic test for coronavirus, while that same test is largely unavailable for most of the country.
Siebel Newsom, a former documentary filmmaker and actress, married Gavin Newsom in 2008, when he was mayor of San Francisco.
Gavin Newsom was previously married to Kimberly Guilfoyle, the former Fox News personality who is currently dating Donald Trump Jr.
In 2018, Newsom was elected governor of California, succeeding Jerry Brown.
Newsom on Thursday announced that all of the state’s nearly 40 million residents were to stay home to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
New York state on Friday told all non-essential workers to do the same while pleading for more medical personnel and supplies to treat coronavirus cases that could overwhelm hospitals.
The pandemic has upended life in much of the United States, shuttering schools and businesses, prompting millions to work from home, forcing many out of jobs and sharply curtailing travel.
Siebel Newsom, a documentary filmmaker and actress, married Gavin Newsom, the then-mayor of San Francisco, in 2008. She is seen above in Los Angeles in January 2019
More than 200 people have died in the United States and more than 12,000 cases have been confirmed as of early Friday, an increase of 3,000 cases over the previous day.
Newsom left open the duration of the order, suggesting it could last eight weeks, while expressing confidence that people will abide by orders to stay home except to visit supermarkets, doctors, pharmacies and laundromats.
Essential workers will also be allowed to report to work.
Newsom’s directive, effective immediately, marks the largest and most sweeping government clampdown yet in the worsening public health crisis brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak, which he predicted could infect more than half the state within eight weeks.
‘We are confident the people of California will abide by it, they will meet this moment,’ Newsom, a Democrat in his first term as governor of the nation’s most populous state, told a late-afternoon news briefing from the state capital in Sacramento.
Governor Newsom on Thursday announced that all of the state’s nearly 40 million people were to stay at home
So far, California, New York, and Illinois have ordered their residents into lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak
‘They’ll step up as they have over the last number of weeks to protect themselves, to protect their families and to protect the broader community in this great state and the world we reside in,’ he said.
Newsom called the order essential in light of modeling by experts that showed roughly 56 percent of the state’s residents, or 25 million people, would contract the respiratory illness in the next eight weeks.
Such numbers would require nearly 20,000 more hospital beds than the state could provide.
Already more than 1,000 Californians have been confirmed as infected and 19 have died, the third largest death toll in the United States behind only Washington state and New York.
Newsom said exceptions to the stay-at-home rule would be granted for residents to make trips to grocery stores, pharmacies, doctors and laundromats, and workers in ‘critical infrastructure sectors.’