WATCH: DeSantis Says Masks Are About Covering ‘Asses,’ Falsely Claims They’re ‘Not Proven to be Effective’

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis decried mask mandates as politicians “cover(ing) their own asses,” and told a crowd that masks aren’t proven to be effective — a dangerous falsehood.

DeSantis spoke Wednesday at the 2021 Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association (FRLA) Marketing Operations Summit and devoted a good portion of his speech to trashing public health measures like mask mandates.

And in one moment that has gone viral, he told the crowd that “Politicians want to force you to cover your face as a way for them to cover their own asses. That’s just the truth.”

“They want to be able to say they are taking this on and they’re doing this even though it’s not proven to be effective they want to continue to do it,” DeSantis said, despite a large body of scientific evidence showing that masks are effective at preventing the transmission of viruses that dates back over a century.

He went on to brag about his own anti-mask order, telling the crowd “We’re helping parents be able to send their kids to school in person with or without a mask as they see fit, not as what government tells them to do.”

Hours later, President Joe Biden lashed out at governors like DeSantis, and CNN host Don Lemon singled out these remarks on Wednesday night, calling them “bullshit.”

Watch above via Tricia Phillippi.