Garden State Times

Gov. Phil Murphy has repeatedly warned residents to avoid large gatherings to help stop the spread of COVID-19, but then he was spotted at anti-racism protests over the summer, ignoring his own stay-at-home orders.

Murphy’s stay-at-home orders made it impossible for residents to adhere to those orders while protesting, according to Politico.

“I can’t imagine what it would look like if we said to people, ‘Actually, you have to stay in. You have to ignore systemic racism — I’m sorry, just ignore it. Stay in,’” Murphy said during the briefing, one day after attending large protests in Hillside and Westfield, Politico reported. “I can’t imagine what that looks like as it relates to public safety.”

Assemblymember Jay Webber (R-Morris) sent a letter to State Police Superintendent Col. Patrick Callahan, calling for the superintendent to cite Murphy at the press conference.

Sen. Joe Pennachio (R-Morris) said that the governor’s appearances at the rallies was what he called a “let them eat cake” moment as he has blatantly ignored pleas from the business community to safely open doors.

Sen. Anthony Bucco (R-Morris) and Assemblymember Aura Dunn (R-Morris) both said Murphy’s actions were inappropriate.

“What all these numbers tell us is that the spread of COVID-19 continues to slow and that is again why I encourage everyone who took part in a march or a peaceful protest this weekend to get tested,” Murphy said, Politico reported.

Murphy said to Politico that he didn’t want what the protests were doing to become undone by a COVID-19 outbreak.

There were more than 130 protests for Black Lives Matter over the weekend in question. The protests were in response to the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed in Minnesota on May 23.