To impress upon New Yorkers the necessity of following pandemic guidelines even as COVID-19 numbers start to decline in the state, New York governor Andrew Cuomo brought out the big guns on Thursday: actor Rosie Perez and comedian Chris Rock.
At his daily press conference, held on Thursday in Brooklyn, Cuomo was joined by Perez and Rock, both native New Yorkers, to repeat the message he has been promoting since the beginning of the pandemic. Speaking directly to her home borough (and the setting for her career-making film role in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing), Perez said, “Spread love the Brooklyn way: Get tested and wear a mask.” (She later repeated the message in Spanish.)
When it came time for Rock to speak from the socially distanced dais, he began by glancing down at his microphone and saying, almost longingly, “We haven’t been able to perform or do any shows. So I’m looking at this microphone and thinking, Wow. Can I just say, hi, microphone, I’ve missed you,” adding, “I will never take you for granted again.” Then he repeated the message from Perez—“people need to get tested”—while adding a new spin on the procedure, saying “make it a festive occasion. People need to posse up, like, all the crew is getting tested.”
As for face masks, Rock estimated that about 40% of the people he sees in his Brooklyn neighborhood are not wearing a mask. “It’s sad,” he said, “that it’s a status symbol almost to not wear a mask.” As for people who don’t wear masks out in public, Rock said, “I give them a nice side-eye.”