Photo shows Newsom visited restaurant with actor George Lopez. Did he break COVID dine-in rules?

Gavin Newsom’s visit to Fresno has generated claims that the California governor violated his own COVID-19 safety mandates.

The governor’s office has denied the accusations.

Nonetheless, a photo of Newsom with actor George Lopez on Friday inside the Los Amigos Mexican restaurant in Fresno appears to show a table with dishes, drinks and possibly food off a reflection of a mirror in the shot.

And that has sparked accusations on social media that Newsom dined inside the restaurant, which would be breaking rules established under California’s color-coded tier system that has Fresno County in the purple tier and prohibited from allowing dine-in service.

“Rules for thee but not for me,” Twitter user Chuck Moorenovich tweeted in response to the photo of Newsom inside Los Amigos with the table in the background.

The accusations are unfounded, the governor’s office said.

According to a spokesperson for the governor, Newsom did not dine at the restaurant.

Instead, he visited Los Amigos to highlight a small business that was receiving some financial relief as part of the governor’s $2 billion business grants for small businesses negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’ve been able to support small businesses, like Fresno’s Los Amigos Mexican Restaurant,” the governor’s office tweeted. “That’s why this week we took immediate action to provide an additional $2B for small business grants for up to $25K for entrepreneurs hurt by #COVID19.”

In addition, Los Amigos offered an explanation of what happened on the restaurant’s Facebook page when asked whether the establishment was open for indoor dining.

“Currently we are not open for indoor dining,” Los Amigos posted in the Facebook comments section. “George Lopez and the Governor of California visited our location. They answer questions, the governor didn’t stay to eat. George Lopez (ate) in the Patio with some (of) our customers.”

The restaurant’s explanation was later deleted.

On Monday, though, Los Amigos administrator Maria Garcia reiterated that Newsom never dined at the restaurant.

“The governor never ate inside the restaurant,” Garcia said. “No one from his entire staff ate while at the restaurant. Even when he was offered a drink of water, he declined.”

Garcia did confirm that Lopez ate outside in the patio area after Newsom and his staff left.

A video posted on the Los Amigos Facebook page has Lopez endorsing Los Amigos’ food.

“I’m George Lopez,” Lopez says in the video. “If there’s one thing I know, it’s Mexican food. And I don’t care where you get it. The best place to get it is Los Amigos.”

The claims that Newsom violated COVID-19 safety mandates come at a time when organizers are trying to collect 1.5 million signatures by March 17 in an attempt to recall the governor.

The claims also piggybacked off Newsom’s previously admitted “bad mistake” in November, when he attended a birthday party that brought together more than three households for outdoor dining at the famed French Laundry restaurant.

Separate guidance from the administration on outdoor gatherings suggested no more than three households should gather.

Newsom later apologized for attending the November party and acknowledged his actions undermined the message he has preached for months for Californians to avoid gathering with friends and family beyond their household.

“The spirit of what I’m preaching all the time was contradictory, and I’ve got to own that,” Newsom said then.

Prior to visiting Los Amigos, Newsom and Lopez held a news conference at the Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries in central Fresno to drum up awareness and confidence in taking COVID-19 vaccines, especially among California farm laborers.

Newsom said the state is partnering with 337 nonprofit organizations statewide to get word out that the COVID vaccines are safe.

“Take the shot when it’s your turn,” Newsom said. “Take any of these shots. It’s going to save your life.”

Since the start of the pandemic, Fresno County has reported 95,393 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 1,443 coronavirus-related deaths as of Sunday.

In addition, Fresno County had administered the COVID-19 vaccine on 182,960 residents.

California, in all, has confirmed 3,475,562 cases of COVID-19 with 51,979 resulting in deaths. The state has administered the vaccine to 8,772,866 Californians.