Apparently, you don’t want to go on record complaining about the lockdowns in the state of Michigan if you want to keep your reputation. After social media backlash, the wife of a Detroit NFL player had to apologize for a viral video she made which criticized the state's overbearing China plague lockdown orders.
Even though several Michigan GOP congressmen have filed for Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s impeachment because of the draconian epidemic safety measures, how dare anyone publicly denounce what’s going on?
Kelly Stafford, the wife of Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford posted a scathing takedown of Michigan lockdown orders to social media on November 19.
Stafford’s post consisted of a minute-and-a-half long speech whereby she explained her frustrations with having to go into yet another lockdown in order to prevent the spread of China plague. A visibly exasperated Stafford tried to approach the issue with some common sense, claiming that of course people at risk should not “leave their home,” but that “shutting down small businesses” again is “not the answer.”
In the video Mrs. Stafford stated, “I understand that there’s a pandemic and I understand it’s very scary. I’m scared of it too. If you’re at risk, do not leave your house until there’s a vaccine.” Stafford then argued that small businesses should not be forced to shut down: “But shutting down all these small businesses -- things that people have worked their life for -- shutting them down again is not the answer.”
Stafford’s point is tragically compelling. According to data given to business reviewing website Yelp, 163,735 businesses have closed in the United States due to COVID prevention procedures since mid-August. 97,966, or 60% of those closures are permanent. Again, that’s only over the course of three months and only according to Yelp’s data.
Stafford continued, asserting that these businesses “will not make it.” She then went so far as to call the Michigan government a “dictatorship” in regards to these precautions. “Once we are able to leave our house, once this dictatorship allows us to let us have some freedom, there will be nothing left,” she added.
“I’m just over it. I see all these people and it brings me to, like, tears.” Stafford also countered people who would fly off the handle in response to her perspective, saying, “I know there’s people out there who are stating, ‘That’s really ignorant of you.’ ‘How could you say that?’ Listen, I know not everyone’s gonna agree with me … that’s life.”
@sportsrapport pic.twitter.com/jk3ijCeCIP
— OutKick (@Outkick) November 19, 2020
Unfortunately, Stafford didn’t maintain her defiant attitude. According to The Daily Wire, she apologized for her video in an Instagram post Friday. “Should never have used the word ‘dictatorship,’" she wrote, adding that she “got caught up in the heat of the moment, that is my fault. I don’t know the answer and I won’t pretend to.”
Stafford then affirmed her sorrow for those who are suffering from the virus and the “medical staff” caring for them. She tried to explain that she was worried watching small business owners “struggle and having to lay off their employees, not knowing how they are gonna make it,” but walked back her previous outrage.
“So I’m sorry. I let my emotions get the best of me. I love Michigan and the people here… Don’t get that twisted in this,” she concluded. Though, really, why does Stafford have to apologize for having an opinion shared by millions?
