Bella Hadid spent about four months in lockdown on her family’s farm in Pennsylvania. She arrived back in New York, where she keeps an apartment, a couple of weeks ago. Whenever she’s out and about in New York, she’s been wearing a mask the whole time, as we’ve seen in plenty of paparazzi photos. This is good! New York was hit hard in the early days of the pandemic, and New Yorkers have, by and large, simply adopted the practice of wearing masks constantly now, indoors and outdoors. Regular, civilian New Yorkers. Apparently, New York police officers do not adhere to the same kind of mask mandate.
Bella posted these photos on her Instagram Stories. In one, she flips off a group of unmasked cops, and in another, she just points out how dumb three unmasked cops look. And for this, people are mad at her. Because of how “crass” it is to flip off a cop or something. I’m all for mask mandates and I thought New York already had a mask mandate? As Bella posted, it’s not just about the health and safety of the cops, it’s about the health and safety of everyone. Wear a damn mask!
All that being said, I feel like… is this the subject Bella wants to talk about regarding the police? Yes, they should be wearing masks. But even more than that, they should be demilitarized, held accountable for the crimes they commit and severely defunded. Making a statement about cops… and whether or not they wear masks?
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Bella’s IG Stories.
Yes, she SHOULD talk about them not wearing masks. That is part of the conversation about holding them accountable for their actions. These are thesame cops who wouldhave no problem harassing or detaining POC if they violated a mask mandate, but there those cops go, walking around NYC like a flock of Covidiots.
Absolutely agree. “Protect and serve” is a farce if they can’t even adhere to basic public safety regulations.
Hold them accountable for everything.
Very much agree!
So, SO True!
They also complain about number of cops in NYC stricken with Covid buy they wear no mask
+1
Yes, they should wear masks. They’re not immune in any sense of the word, and they could infect other people. Just another example of how police see themselves as above the law.
NYC cops are empowered thugs, and this behavior is absolutely a part of their thug life mindset.
Right. The cops are the thugs. That’s why NYC shootings have surged by 177% this year since they have taken their “hands-off” approach to policing. Gotcha.
This wannabe model is a 12 year old. Real political statement by running across the street to give the middle finger while no one is looking. I noticed that gesture was not on display in the photo where three cops ARE looking over. So, yeah, very impressive and brave political statement. If she was so duly concerned about the second group not wearing masks, why not be an adult and walk over and ask them? Is that too confrontational? Is that not social media reactionary enough?
what is this number? 177%? do you even live here? eyeroll.
Do you live in NYC? I personally know EIGHT men who are part of NYPD and they are not ‘thugs’ by any means. There are bad cops just like there are bad men and women, too. Crime HAS surged in NYC. Have you been to the UWS? Outside of my office building in the city there was a MATTRESS with three people shooting up heroin in broad daylight.
There have been police refusing to enforce the laws around wearing masks in areas around the US. They shouldn’t get to pick and choose which laws to enforce. They might not be directly killing people by not wearing masks (that would depend on them having the virus), but they are supporting a behavior that is killing people. It’s not trivial at all. Last I read, the fine for not wearing a mask in public in NYC was up to $1000.
Our local cops seem to have a policy that they only need to have masks on when near members of the public, not each other. I have to deal with them on a regular basis because of volunteer work and they stand around with each other with no masks.
I like Bella and I follow her on IG. She is pretty consistent in supporting human and civil rights causes. She’s thrown a lot of support behind BLM, defunding police, supporting black business owners and artists and more consistently for a long time. She was also getting the word out about Lebanon earlier this week and telling people how they could help, passing on messages Lebanese followers were giving her (like about the toxic gas in the air), and more. Calling out these cops isn’t the only thing she’s done by a long shot. She’s not the most educated or eloquent advocate (nor would I expect her to be) but she seems sweet and has her heart in the right place.
I think it’s fine that she’s choosing to focus on this. It’s just another example of the police’s arrogance and belief they’re above the people they’re meant to protect and serve.
Bella went to Europe for some yacht photoshoot thing with Hailey Baldwin in June(?) so not a 4 month lockdown necessarily. I like this better than the weird home instagram photos where she’d drag a full length mirror to the middle of a field with horses.
She’s not wrong!
I live in NYC and have yet to see a cop wearing a mask. Everyone else is really good about it, I would say every 1 in 10-15 people/civilians I see isn’t wearing one but on the whole everyone has really adopted it.
She absolutely should call them out for not wearing masks! In April here in CA masks were mandated but none of our local cops were wearing them. I got into an argument with one at the corner store. He just said they get tested everyday so they don’t need to wear masks. Then he got within 6 feet of me and said “watch out! Social distancing” like he was making fun of me. I sent messages to the mayor via Facebook about how wrong this was and that the police should be modeling mask wearing if they expected the public to do it, and also that they could be spreading it regardless of whether they get tested. Testing is not PPE. I don’t know if my message had anything to do with it but they wear masks now.
“Testing is not PPE.” This, exactly! People act like getting tested prevents them from getting sick. It’s absurd. What if that pending test result comes back positive, and they have been running around exposing others? Also, eff that entitled cop and good on you for voicing your concerns.
She is so brave.