The Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice is being slammed on Instagram for a post featuring her daughter Gabriella Giudice’s 16th birthday party. The newly single mother-of-four shared a video to her feed this morning, which showed the elaborate Sweet 16 celebration that took place last night at the Dream Downtown hotel in New York City. Young attendees were packed to the brim as they sang “Happy Birthday” to Gabriella. Sister Milania Giudice could also be seen in the crowd, alongside all the guests who were not wearing masks.
Editor’s note : The referenced post has been deleted from Instagram.
The only mask that was spotted in the video belonged to an employee who brought Gabriella a sparkler to hold as her friends sang to her. Immediately after the clip was shared by Teresa, the comments section began filling up with criticism for the lack of masks.
“Curious to see how many COVID cases will come from this since you obviously didn’t require masks or social distancing,” one poster wrote.
“No masks No social distancing. Thank you for contributing to the continuation of the pandemic. You should be ashamed of yourself. Happy birthday,” another user wrote.
Scrolling through the comments section showed there were dozens upon dozens of posters who let their disappointment in Teresa and all the attendees be known. Complimentary sentiments were few and far between and mostly came from fellow Bravolebrities like Kandi Burruss, Margaret Josephs, and Melissa Gorga.
Social distancing was clearly not in effect at Gabriella’s party, where the guests were basically shoulder-to-shoulder as they filmed their friend smiling in front of her cake. New York still has strict guidelines in place regarding COVID-19, one of which requires all those over the age of 2 to wear a face mask in public should they not be able to socially distance. For people inside, the guidelines strongly recommend that masks be worn in a shared indoor space that isn’t your home. While no one in Teresa’s video is technically breaking a law, it doesn’t appear that many are worried about coming in contact with the virus, or that they might be spreading it.
Teresa did not respond to any of the mask controversy and posted two separate photos from the night which focused on just her and Gabriella. A second picture showcased Gabriella in her red two-piece ensemble that went with the red-and-black theme for the party. Teresa opted to wear a black knee-length dress which featured an off-the-shoulder tulle poof. Many noted that they couldn’t believe how grown up Gabriella was and that she looked unrecognizable.
