PARIS: Like tennis player Novak Djokovic or British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, several personalities have been accused of having ignored the health restrictions put in place in the context of the pandemic.
Ireland: Gala Dinner
A gala dinner in Ireland, organized in violation of health rules, caused a storm on the local political class.
This meal, organized for the 50th anniversary of the Irish Parliament Golf Club with more than 80 guests, took place on August 19, 2020, the day after the ban on meetings of more than six people indoors.
After Agriculture Minister Dara Calleary and Senate Vice-President Jerry Buttimer, European Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan resigns on August 26.
GB: Controversy over Councilor Cummings
The travels in full confinement of the adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings, caused an outcry in Great Britain and led to the resignation on May 26, 2020 of the Secretary of State for Scotland Douglas Ross, in disagreement with his justifications.
Mr. Cummings claimed – without convincing – to have gone to his parents’ home in Durham (north), 400 kilometers from London, because he feared being infected with the coronavirus and was looking for a childcare solution.
In April, the Minister of Housing, Robert Jenrick, had already been pinned by the press for having visited his parents, about sixty kilometers from his home, in violation of the instructions.
GB: politico-sentimental scandal
In June 2021, CCTV images showing the British Minister of Health kissing a counselor in defiance of health restrictions caused a scandal.
Matt Hancock, then at the heart of government action against the pandemic, resigns acknowledging having broken the anti-Covid rules which he regularly called on the British to respect.
Argentina: Birthday Dinner
The broadcast in August 2021 of a photo of Argentine President Alberto Fernandez celebrating his wife’s birthday with a dozen guests in July 2020, when all gatherings were then banned due to the pandemic, aroused a wave of discontent in the country. An investigation has been opened.
USA: controversial meal
In November 2020, the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, was pinned for having participated in a meal in a three-star restaurant near San Francisco, shamelessly ignoring the health instructions in the fight against the Covid that he hammered all day long.
Two months earlier, Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, had made headlines following a video showing her in a hair salon, without a mask, while only outdoor haircuts were authorized in the State.
Series of missteps for the Dutch royal couple
King Willem-Alexander finds himself under fire from critics in June 2021, for not respecting the rules of social distancing in force in the Netherlands and shaking hands with local inhabitants, while visiting a street in The Hague.
In August 2020, a photo shared on social media showed the royal couple posing with a Greek restaurateur on the island of Milos, without wearing a mask in an enclosed space.
The royal family had made an even more serious error in judgement, observers say, when they again traveled to Greece for a vacation in October 2020, when the country had decreed a partial confinement.
Tropical getaway for Kim Kardashian
In October 2020, reality TV star Kim Kardashian took a beating on social media after chartering a private plane in the midst of a pandemic to celebrate her 40th birthday on a tropical island with her loved ones.
Brazil: football match stopped
In September 2021, the reunion between Lionel Messi and Neymar with their selections came to an end, with the stoppage of the Brazil-Argentina match, in Sao Paulo, on the intervention of the Brazilian health authorities, four Argentine players playing in England being accused of violating the anti-Covid protocols.
