Getty Kelly Stafford and Matthew Stafford at an event.
Kelly Stafford has had enough of the coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions it has brought in Michigan over the past year, and she’s here to tell every Detroit Lions fan how she feels.
Stafford, in a new video, goes off about the pandemic and Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer’s response. Within, she calls Whitmer’s government a “dictatorship” and complains that shutting everything down again is not the way to go given the amount of small businesses will be hurt.
Here’s Stafford’s take:
“I am so over it. I am over living in a dictatorship that we call Michigan. I understand there’s a pandemic. I understand it’s very scary. I’m scared of it too. If you are 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. Once we are able to leave our house, once this dictatorship will let us have our freedom, there will be nothing left. I see these people and it brings me to tears.”
Michigan has seen a major surge of COVID-19 over the last few weeks, so Whitmer and company moved to scale back the state further, closing restaurants to in person dining, closing bowling allies and limiting the scope of indoor gatherings for 3 weeks. Naturally, some are not happy with the move, and plenty like Stafford say it feels too authoritarian or will hurt the businesses. There’s no doubt businesses will be hurt, but it’s a delicate balance given how the pandemic shows no signs of slowing down and is still killing plenty of folks.
Everyone is fed up with COVID-19 and its seemingly never ending wrath, but it seems screaming into a camera isn’t the best play at this point in time. Regardless, Stafford has now made her opinion well known to the masses.
Kelly Stafford Doubles Down About Comments
In the second half of the same video, Stafford seems to acknowledge that her take isn’t going to be a popular one, but doubles down on it by saying it’s simply her opinion.
“I know there’s people out there that are stating that’s really ignorant of you, how could you say that. Not everybody’s gonna agree with me, not everybody’s gonna agree with my every move I make. That’s life. We state our opinions and move on. I feel for these small businesses. It’s not that I don’t feel for the people who have COVID or the hospitals. But this is my opinion. I do not like living in a place where they tell me what I can and cannot do. I live once. Again, this is my opinion. You have yours. Everyone has their own.”
It will be interesting to see the response to Stafford in the coming days, or if she has any type of secondary response after her first round of comments.
Kelly Stafford Has Long Been Outspoken
Stafford has been outspoken for a long time on plenty of issues, but COVID-19 is where she seems to have found her voice very powerfully. She was critical of the NFL when Matthew Stafford came back with a false positive COVID test during training camp. Recently, she was unhappy when Stafford had to be monitored after a close contact and nearly couldn’t play against Minnesota. In the past, Stafford has also not been shy taking swipes at Lions fans for their takes on the play of her husband.
Safe to say this could be the take that Stafford is best known for in the end, which might not be great for her perception in the eyes of many in the long run even if she is certainly entitled to her opinion.