Scottsdale Councilman Guy Phillips says 'I can't breathe' to protest masks, angry Internet tells him to retire
Scottsdale City Councilmember Guy Phillips has caused controversy after he mocked Eric Garner and George Floyd during an event to protest Arizona's mandatory mask-wearing. The protest was titled "Unmask Us" and asked "Any Citizen of AZ who believes wearing a mask is a personal choice, and not a mandate" to "put your best face forward".
During the protest, as Phillips took the stage wearing the mask, he said, "I can't breathe" twice, before removing his mask and saying "Insanity". "I can't breathe" were among the last words of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man who died on May 25 at the hands of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin after the latter knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, despite pleas from Floyd.
In 2014, Eric Garner, also African-American, was killed when former NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo placed his arm around Garner's neck and wrestled him to the ground. With multiple officers pinning him down, Garner repeated the words "I can't breathe" 11 times while lying face down on the sidewalk. After Garner lost consciousness, officers turned him onto his side, continuing their chokehold. Garner kept lying on the sidewalk for seven minutes while the officers waited for an ambulance to arrive. Garner was pronounced dead at an area hospital approximately one hour later.
While Phillips later told The Arizona Republic that his comment had no connection to Floyd, adding that it was "hot and stuffy". He also issued an apology to the Floyd family, saying, "I am sorry about a comment I made today that was the same comment Mr Floyd had made. He didn't deserve what happened to him and I by no means was trying to make light of it by saying I can't breathe in a mask. Please accept my sincerest apology and that goes out to anyone who became offended."
However, the video of Phillips' remarks during the protest has gone viral on social media, with many of them calling him out and asking him to resign. One user tweeted, "OMG... the level of stupidity and lack of any semblance of humanity in parts of AZ should not surprise me anymore... yet it does! Hey, Guy Phillips, you can breathe. And you can also retire. Scottsdale deserves better." Another wrote, "Councilman Guy Phillips, you made it adamantly clear that Black people living in/visiting your city will be treated with hostility. As long as you represent Scottsdale, no one should patronize it."
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey tweeted, "Just flat out wrong. Despicable doesn't go far enough. The final words of George Floyd should NEVER be invoked like this. Anyone who mocks the murder of a fellow human has no place in public office. Period." A user tweeted, "Guy Phillips is a Councilman? A very insensitive and ignorant remark! Extremely racist! He doesn’t get it! #Black lives matter." Another opined, "Wearing a mask doesn't compare to the feeling of dying. Wearing a mask doesn't compare to losing a father to police brutality. Wearing a mask doesn't compare to living in fear because of the color of your skin. Wearing a mask is not comparable to being black in this country."
Phillips had stoked controversy earlier this year when he shared a private post on Facebook on Sunday claiming that Covid-19, the official name for the disease during the current coronavirus pandemic, stands for "Chinese Originated Viral Infectious Disease". Phillips had shared, "Hate to break this to all of the morons who call themselves Journalists. Covid literally stands for 'Chinese Originated Viral Infectious Disease' and the number 19 is due to this being the 19th virus to come out of China."