Jordan Klepper of The Daily Show tapped into the psyches of parents protesting mask mandates in North Carolina schools and didn’t seem able to clear much up.
Klepper attended an anti-mask protest outside the Johnston County school system’s headquarters in Smithfield ahead of a vote to decide whether to continue its mask policy.
North Carolina is seeing a spike in Covid-19 cases and hospitalisations, with roughly a third of the state’s new cases among children under 17. Most studies have shown that mask use can help limit transmission of the virus in schools, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“But, packed school board meetings and new stars of the right are upset because putting on a piece of cloth is just too much,” Klepper said.
He proceeded to interview several attendees, whose rationales against mask-wearing included acne, having to “smell that funk” when breathing, not being able to see facial expressions and being “a sign of slavery.”
Klepper noted that the rally, which also featured signs and speeches against the teaching of critical race theory in schools, was best characterised as a “general airing of grievances.”
Watch his report below.