‘Took every precaution,’ McCarthy says after video surfaces of son’s pandemic wedding
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, defended attending his son’s December wedding after videos of the celebration surfaced online.
Videos of the wedding in San Luis Obispo County show McCarthy and other attendees not wearing masks.
“My son married the love of his life in December — and though the wedding was small, the love we have for them could not be bigger,” McCarthy wrote in an Instagram caption. “Turned commenting off on this one. It’s a politics-free post!”
The wedding, which took place on Dec. 5, was after California announced a regional stay-at-home order that prohibited gatherings of any size for regions with less than 15% ICU availability. San Luis Obispo County fell below the 15% threshold on Dec. 4 and the order went into effect on Dec. 6.
California has also prohibited wedding receptions and requires attendees to social distance and wear masks during ceremonies.
In a statement to the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, McCarthy said “you better believe” that he would “celebrate this beautiful day on December 5, 2020 again.”
“We took every precaution to ensure a safe celebration — starting with just 13 family members,” the statement said. “We spent the majority of the time outside with the dinner following the ceremony in an almost completely open area. We wore masks indoors that day, except in those instances where some had to let makeup dry or when we were eating.”
“The arbitrary lockdown orders have been devastating to families, small businesses, and communities,” McCarthy continued. “What’s worse is that Democrat politicians promulgating or advocating for lockdown policies have often ignored these very mandates they are imposing on everyone else.”
Traci Hozie, owner of the Cass House, told McClatchy News that the McCarthy wedding was the only event that went forward as the venue refunded or rescheduled all other wedding bookings due to the pandemic.
Hozie said that 14 guests attended the outdoor ceremony and 12 attended a dinner in the outdoor grill restaurant. She added that all who attended the dinner were family members who had been tested for the virus before attending.
She told the LA Times the venue was “very comfortable that we could meet all the restrictions and guidelines and keep everyone safe.”
McCarthy is among several California lawmakers who have come under fire for flouting coronavirus precautions.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said he shouldn’t have attended a birthday party with several other households on Nov. 6 as California was experiencing a surge in cases.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was “set up” after she was videotaped during a salon visit over the summer not wearing a mask and faced criticism from former President Donald Trump.
Hair salons closed in San Francisco in March and were allowed to reopen on Sept. 1 for outdoor services, according to Forbes.
“It was clearly a setup,” Pelosi said. “I take responsibility for falling for a setup by a neighborhood salon I’ve gone to for many years.”
McCarthy previously criticized Newsom for issuing a statewide shelter-in-place order at the beginning of the pandemic without consulting other California lawmakers.
“We do think there was an ability to do this without shutting down the entire state,” McCarthy told Fox News in March. “I hope he consulted with a lot of experts before he just made this decision.”
This story was originally published February 11, 2021 at 2:07 PM with the headline "‘Took every precaution,’ McCarthy says after video surfaces of son’s pandemic wedding."