Social media users have castigated former US President Barack Obama, who on Saturday held a “scaled-down” 60th birthday bash at his $12 million seaside mansion in Massachusetts, the same day 206 persons died of COVID-19 across the United States, data compiled by The New York Times showed.
In now-deleted photos of the soiree shared by rapper Trap Beckham and manager TJ Chapman, Obama and some of America’s top celebrities could be seen having a nice time without masking up or maintaining social distancing, despite rising fears about the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant across America.
Beckham and Chapman had taken to their various Instagram pages to share the images, including of themselves smoking cannabis at the party, but later deleted them due to the event’s photography ban.
Some of the photos showed that gold napkins and masks were made available at the party, although there was no evidence that the latter were used.
In one photo, an unmasked Obama, who Beckham said ‘danced all night’, could be seen dancing with Erykah Badu, who also wore no mask.
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Some of the celebrities at the event, New York Post reported, were Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Jennifer Hudson, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Bradley Cooper, Don Cheadle, Gabrielle Union, Dwyane Wade, Bruce Springsteen, Steven Colbert and John Kerry.
Some social media users that reacted to the event said they expected the former president to have done better in adhering to COVID-19 protocols.