‘Don’t be a knucklehead’ NJ road sign urges distancing but some don’t find it funny
Not everyone is laughing at a road sign urging New Jersey residents to practice social distancing.
Gov. Phil Murphy on Saturday posted on Twitter a video of the roadside sign, which flashes between the phrases “Don’t be a knucklehead” and “Keep a safe distance.” Along with the video, he tweeted “ATTN knuckleheads: Keep a safe distance #FlattenTheCurve.”
As of noon Sunday, the video had been viewed more than 341,000 times and retweeted more than 2,000 times.
The sign, and others like it, got mixed reactions on social media.
“I love u New Jersey,” one user tweeted along with a photo a sign reading “don’t be a knucklehead” and another reading “Keep ya distance, pal.”
“Totally Jersey,” another tweeted.
But others weren’t so happy about the signs.
“When you say knuckleheads, I take it you are talking about the constituents you are meant to serve?” One user tweeted in response to the governor’s video.
New Jersey state Sen. Joe Pennacchio, a Republican, released a statement criticizing the signs.
“I strongly condemn the flippant language the Governor has used in press conferences and on these signs” he said in the statement. “It is disrespectful to the citizens of New Jersey who have – and will continue to – make hard sacrifices to stop the spread of the coronavirus and save lives.”
He also called the language “sophomoric” and “unbecoming.”
Webster defines a knucklehead as a ‘stupid person,’ ” the statement said. “Is that what you think of sacrificing New Jersey citizens? Really?”
On Saturday, Murphy, a Democrat, held a press conference in which he used the term “knucklehead” when talking about the reopening of state parks and thanked New Jerseyans for their efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19.
“If we hear minimal reports of knucklehead behavior in our parks and we see the metrics we need to meet being met over the next couple of days and weeks, then we know that you all have taken to heart your responsibility — continued to take to heart I might add,” he said in a video of the press conference. “You’ve done an extraordinary job so far in helping us mitigate this pandemic.”
He went on to say this is what he expects of New Jerseyans.
“We are smart,” he said in the conference. “We have all followed best practices and together we are flattening to curves and we are making progress.”
New Jersey’s official Twitter posted a reminder to social distance as parks reopened, which also received mixed reactions on social media.
And this isn’t the first time the state has used unconventional ways to remind people to social distance.
“REMINDER: Keep AT LEAST 1.05 Bon Jovis of space between yourself and others,” it tweeted in April.
“Keep AT LEAST one Springsteen of space between yourself and others,” it tweeted earlier in April.
New Jersey had 123,717 reported COVID-19 cases and 7,742 deaths as of Saturday, according to the state Department of Health.
