Lighter Side of Mayor Lightfoot Emerges In Fight To Save Lives

CHICAGO — Mayor Lori Lightfoot launched a string of new coronavirus sketch comedy bits Monday in a public service announcement to drive home a serious point: Staying home saves lives.

Lightfoot pivoted from the stern stay-at-home-or-else demands many people ignored before she shut down the lakefront and other parks and recreation areas drawing crowds, exposing the mayor's lighter side in hopes of getting the social distancing message across.

The short video shows Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor, shows off her lighter side. Lightfoot the "baker" runs her finger through flour to spell out "Stay Home!" As "The Baller," the mayor slam dunks on a refrigerator hoop to win a bet to keep you home and "save lives."

Lightfoot fumbles with an acoustic guitar while signing the chorus of an original song: "Stay home. Save Lives."

We see the mayor fluffing pillows (saving lives), jabbing at friends for getting pedicures and making hair appointments (saving lives) and watching Game 7 of the 2005 White Sox World Series (saving lives). She even tells her daughter that being bored, you guessed it, "saves lives."

Lightfoot's final character in the video, The Realist, skips the punchline: "“The truth is, 40,000 hospitalizations will break our healthcare system. Stay home. Save lives.”

The video has had nearly 200,000 views since it was posted on social media Monday.

On Tuesday, Lightfoot said that she likes many of the viral memes of a stern-faced mayor enforcing the statewide stay-at-home order.

"There are a number that I like well ... This is a really intense situation and we all need to find the humor. And from humor stems hope. And I know from my experiences over my life if you have hope you can heal," the mayor said.

"We need that hope. We need to have that sense that even in this dark storm there's light."