LOS ANGELES, CA – Actor Bruce Willis apologized on Tuesday for refusing to wear a mask at a Rite Aid store in Los Angeles, despite the city’s mask order.
The mask’s obstinate stance caused the “Duro de Matar” star to be expelled from the pharmacy on Sunday. While shopping at the pharmacy, Willis refused to wear a mask or put the bandana around his neck over his nose and mouth, reported Page Six. A photo of the kerfuffle scarf circulated on social media and was widely dismissed in Los Angeles, where more than 200 people die of coronavirus every day.
The 65-year-old action star is currently appearing on the small screen in a DieHard car battery commercial, and a series of negative headlines on Tuesday prompted him to issue a statement about the incident.
In a statement to People magazine, Willis called this “an error of judgment”.
“Be safe out there, everyone and we will continue to hide,” he said.
Still, critics turned to Twitter to make Willis’s life more difficult.
Bruce Willis: Do you know who I am? Rite Aid: pic.twitter.com/BCUZKSPcm6
– Johnny Akzam (@JohnnyAkzam) January 12, 2021
I wonder how the @riteaid addressed this? “We have an unbreakable mask as a rule. I don’t have a sixth sense for that, but your mask isn’t. I’m not a Boy Scout either. It will be armageddon if you don’t fix it in a second division.”
– Nick Potts (@NickPotts__) January 13, 2021
Bruce Willis would rather DIE DIFFICULT than LIVE FOR FREE – The actor was reportedly instructed to leave a Los Angeles Rite Aid after refusing to wear a mask (@nypost)
– Geek Vibes Nation (@GeekVibesNation) January 12, 2021
I remember when Bruce Willis was so cool, Tony Amato in Miami Vice, David Addison in Moonlighting, now this one, Bruce Willis, asked to leave a Rite Aid, for not wearing a mask
– Jason Elias (@Zebop) January 13, 2021
Bruce Willis entered a Rite Aid and was asked to leave because he would not wear a mask. What a “cop” he can end up at “Trauma Center” with a “death wish” and can “die hard” because he is not “unbreakable” without a “sixth sense”
– Mayday Mindy (@ maydaymindy9) January 12, 2021
bruce willis refused to wear a mask inside a ritual helper, as he realized he was really dead the whole time
– Anthony Kapfer (@AnthonyKapfer) January 12, 2021
I’m stunned. Doesn’t Bruce Willis have a personal shopper to go to Rite Aid? https://t.co/2yjdETX2b0
– Tom Harrington (@cbctom) January 13, 2021
The city’s news service contributed to this report.