AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast
- Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his press secretary got into a testy exchange with a radio host.
- Amy Jacobson told Pritzker he should try to calm anxious parents asking for remote learning.
- "You come in here with a political agenda, and you spread misinformation, and I just think you should stop," Pritzker said.
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Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and his press secretary shut down a radio host who told the governor he should "try and calm" the nerves of anxious Chicago parents asking for remote learning options.
Pritzker has issued a statewide mask mandate in schools earlier his month for students and staff amid rising COVID-19 cases driven by the Delta variant.
In a Wednesday news conference, talk radio host Amy Jacobson of Chicago's WIND AM 560, a Fox Radio affiliate, told Pritzker he should try and assure parents who, that morning, were protesting outside Chicago Public Schools demanding a remote learning option over the spread of the Delta variant.
"There were protests out here this morning and parents were crying, screaming – as governor, you should try and calm people's nerves maybe…because there are low-risk groups," Jacobson, who has criticized the mask mandate on her Twitter feed, told Pritzker.
Pritzker's press secretary Jordan Abudayyeh then cut off Jacobson's comments.
"Amy, as a supposed reporter, you should probably stop the misinformation. We are done here, thank you. Do you know how you stop schools from being closed? You stop complaining about mask-wearing, "Abudayyeh said.
"Send me some studies," Jacobson responded.
"It's called Google," Abudayyeh shot back.
Pritzker then interjected and slammed Jacobson's comments from the podium himself.
"I am going to take the podium again and just respond to that. Let me just say this: you are spreading misinformation. I wish you would stop spreading misinformation. You come in here with a political agenda, and you spread misinformation, and I just think you should stop," Pritzker said.
"We now need to protect our children, we need to protect the people in our communities...you are working against that and it is extremely upsetting for all of us who are trying to keep the rest of the state safe," he said before walking off.
-WICS ABC 20 (@wics_abc20) August 25, 2021
Jacobson continued her criticisms of Pritzker and the administration on Twitter, tweeting after the press conference that Pritzker "has a responsibility to calm the nerves of @ChiPubSchools parents who protested outside for remote learning."
"They actually think their kids might die if they go back for in person learning. I challenged him to LEAD! He knows schools are low risk," she added.
In responding to another critic, Jacobson wrote that "this isn't a game of ownership," saying that Abudayyeh "doesn't have kids or work in a school environment."