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'Hypocrite': Stacey Abrams' apology for being maskless at school slammed as fake

The voting rights activist went to Glennwood Elementary School in Atlanta for a Black History Month event

Stacey Abrams has been slammed after she apologized for removing her mask to take photos with kids during her visit to a Georgia school as part of her gubernatorial campaign. The voting rights activist went to Glennwood Elementary School in Decatur on Friday, February 4, for a Black History Month event. She claimed that she only took off her face covering to read with the children — some of whom were listening via zoom — and out of excitement took the photo, which was then shared on Twitter. The photo has now been deleted following the backlash.

However, later more pictures emerged from the same event showing Abrams most of the time without the mask. The photos also appeared to hint that the Georgia gubernatorial candidate failed to maintain social distance with the kids, who were masked all the time. The 48-year-old spoke to CNN about the controversy and said, “I will say this... I went to read to the kids for an African-American read-in day. I approached the podium with my mask on. I followed the protocol. I told the kids I'm taking my mask off because I'm reading to kids listening remotely as well. The kids were socially distant from me. I told them that's what I was doing.”

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She continued: “The excitement after I was finished — because it was so much fun working with those kids — I took a picture. That was a mistake. Protocols matter. Protecting our kids is the most important thing and anything perceived as undermining that is a mistake and I apologize.”

Abrams also added: “My responsibility was to explain to those kids why I was doing something they weren't doing and as soon as possible to put that mask back on. I took it off because I was speaking remotely and wanted all of them to hear me. The larger point I want everyone to take from this, this is complicated. We cannot make this about politics or scoring political points. This has to be about how do we protect our families?”

However, Abrams' apology has not been taken in good spirits by her critics as lawyer Jenna Ellis, who used to work for Donald Trump's legal team, tweeted, “Here’s the thing, Stacey. You’re not actually sorry. You’re only apologizing because everyone sees you for the hypocrite you are. Girl, BYE.” A user commented, “She’s not sorry she did it. She’s sorry she got caught.” The second one called Abrams’ apology “Terrible”.

A person said, “Democrats never lead by example. It's always ‘do as I say not as I do’.” The second person wrote, “Apology for #hypocricy is nice, but it doesn't change the fact that you're a #Hypocrite. #BlueStates @StaceyAbrams #MasksForSerfs.” A user asked, “What about the other pictures showing her unmasked the entire time while literally every other person, man woman and child, if masked up? Did she hold her breath for an hour?” “Nobody cares that she wasn’t wearing a mask. We care that she forced everyone else to, bragged about it, and now claims it was a mistake,” a tweet read.