Kelly Stafford, the wife of Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, ripped into Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s new lockdown order and called to reopen businesses already struggling under prior restrictions.
Stafford posted a video to her Instagram on Thursday tearing into Michigan’s renewed lockdown orders that Whitmer reinstated earlier this week.
“I’m over living in the dictatorship that we call Michigan,” Stafford said. “I understand 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. But shutting down all these small businesses, things that people have worked their life for, shutting them down again is not the answer. Because they will not make it.”
“So once we are able to leave our house, once this dictatorship decides to let us have some freedom, there will be nothing left,” she continued. “I’m just over it. I see all these people and it brings me to tears.”
“Believe me, I know there are people out there stating ‘that’s really ignorant of you, how could you say that.’ Listen, I know not everybody is going to agree with me. Not everybody is going to agree with my every move I make. That’s life, okay?” she said. “This is my opinion. I feel for these small businesses. It’s not that I don’t feel for the people that have COVID or the hospitals. I do. But this is my opinion: I do not like living in a place where they tell me what I can and cannot do.”
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Stafford later apologized for her comments after receiving blowback on social media. She said she should not have used the word “dictatorship” and said she does not “know the answer” to dealing with the coronavirus. She posted the follow-up message Thursday evening on her Instagram.
In her post, Stafford wrote:
Should never have used the word “dictatorship.” I 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. I care about the people who are losing their lives or battling this.. and also the medical staff who care for them. And it is hard knowing these local business owners and watching them struggle and having to lay off their employees, not knowing how they are gonna make it. 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[.] This place was my rock during my tough times. And I wish there was an answer that pleased everyone but we know that is definitely not the case.
A handful of state GOP lawmakers introduced a resolution on Wednesday calling for Whitmer to be impeached over her latest shutdown order among other reasons.
“Gretchen E. Whitmer has acted in conflict with her constitutional duties as Governor. She has exceeded her constitutional authority, violated the constitutional rights of the people of Michigan, issued orders that are not in the best interests of the people of this state, and used the Pandemic as an opportunity to reward political allies,” Reps. Beau LaFave, Matt Maddock, and Daire Rendon wrote in the resolution.