His Kids' Camp Pics Cause a Commotion for Newsom

Every parent loves seeing photos of their kids enjoying summer camp, but images that surfaced this week have caused a bit of a hubbub for California's governor. Those pics, of Newsom's son, Hunter, showed the 10-year-old sitting without a mask inside, along with other kids sans masks, at the basketball camp he attends with his sister, 11-year-old Montana, per Politico. (Newsom also has two other younger children who apparently weren't attending the camp.) Mention of the photos first emerged Tuesday via the Twitter account of Reopen California Schools, an advocacy group that's suing Newsom for what it says are overbearing restrictions during the pandemic. "This is in clear violation of his own mask mandates," the group tweeted about the "strange saga," per the San Francisco Chronicle, referencing California's current rules that everyone indoors in K-12 schools, as well as camps, must wear a face covering. "Why can his kid be maskless, but not ours?"

On Tuesday, a Newsom rep said in a statement that the governor and his wife "were concerned" after finding out unvaccinated children were indoors without masks at the camp their kids had just started attending the previous day. After going through their paperwork, the couple "realized that an email was missed saying the camp would not enforce masking guidance. Their kids will no longer be attending this camp." Some are calling Newsom, who's facing a September recall election, a two-time hypocrite, bringing up how he was spotted last fall dining at an upscale Napa Valley restaurant with at least a dozen other people, despite gathering restrictions in place at the time. "This clearly demonstrates that he doesn't believe there's a risk," Jonathan Zachreson, head of RCS, tells the Sacramento Bee, scoffing at Newsom's claim that he didn't know kids at the camp were allowed to drop their masks indoors. "His kids get to live by a different set of rules." (More Gavin Newsom stories.)