The Washingtonian magazine kicked off a wave of mockery after reporting that the journalist who posted photos of DC Mayor Muriel Bowser breaking masking guidance was – shockingly – not invited to the event.
The mayor faced backlash over the weekend after the photos – taken for a Washington Examiner report by Tiana Lowe – surfaced and showed her, maskless, attending a wedding, despite new city guidance she had promoted.
Bowser had similarly taken maskless photos at a birthday celebration shortly after announcing the new mask guidance in response to rising Covid-19 cases.
When encountered by the Washington Examiner, Mayor Bowser confirmed that she officiated the maskless, indoor wedding, but when asked why she was violating her own mask mandate, her security retinue quickly escorted her away. https://t.co/hY0Ji2zqnjpic.twitter.com/xozhIupSin
Multiple media outlets faced accusations of covering for the mayor, including the Washingtonian which was heavily criticized for an “update” to their story that simply stated Lowe had not been formally invited to the wedding, a fact many critics were quick to say was already obvious and irrelevant to the actual scandal.
Some critics offered up other examples of “uninvited” guests the Washingtonian may want to out, including a couple of beloved movie characters who also specialized in crashing weddings.
casually sneaking in to report on Muriel Bowser's mask mandate hypocrisy like pic.twitter.com/D1aX2JXmPK
UPDATE: Upton Sinclair was not invited to meatpacking plant in Chicago. https://t.co/Xr3BZIq78L
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) August 2, 2021
Lowe herself responded to the story by saying she’d already been open about the fact that she had not been invited to the wedding.
CNN host Brianna Keilar also found herself facing pushback and accusations of trying to ‘spin’ a story when she covered the Bowser scandal on Monday.
In her segment, she defended the mayor by saying the “nuptials” part of the wedding had been outside, though the photograph appears to have been taken inside.
In a tweet about the segment, Keilar said Bowser “technically” complied with her city’s mask mandate because it was an “indoor wedding reception.” As many were quick to counter, she is not outside in the photo and is not actively eating or drinking and she and others are not masked.
If you’re a Republican and “violate” COVID restrictions, you’re evil.
If you’re a Democrat, the press asks how far across the line you can go and still be okay. https://t.co/AfYP6FBZRP
There is a *photograph* of Mayor Bowser seated indoors, not actively eating or drinking, around other unmasked people who are also not actively eating or drinking
The DC mandate requires a mask when not actively eating or drinking.
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