Gavin Newsom's claim about wearing mask at NFC championship contradicted by Rams 'fan cam'

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Newsom, Garcetti caught maskless at 49ers-Rams game despite stadium rules

‘Fox & Friends’ discusses Democratic leaders Gavin Newsom and Eric Garcetti being caught without their masks at the conference championship game.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom appears to have misled the public when commenting on when he wore his face mask at Sunday's sold out NFC championship between the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers. 

At a press conference Monday, Newsom claimed that he only took off his mask to have a "glass of water" and take a photo with former professional basketball player Magic Johnson. 

But he appeared to be maskless at other points during Sunday's NFC championship, including in an image captured by the Rams "fan cam," which showed the governor sitting down with his mask dangling from one ear. 

"The rest of the time I wore it as we all should – not when I had a glass of water [or anything]," he said Monday. "And I encourage everybody else to do so."

"Of course," he replied, "I was trying to be gracious and I made a mis--, you know, I mean I was trying to be gracious and took the mask off for a brief second."

Newsom's communications director, Erin Mellon, said in a statement to Fox News: "The Governor acknowledged that he took off his mask for a few moments during Sunday’s game. He continues to encourage all Californians to do their part to get through the pandemic and this latest surge, including wearing a mask and getting vaccinated."

On Sunday, Johnson tweeted photos of him posing indoors with Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and San Francisco Mayor London Breed.

None of the California leaders or Johnson were wearing masks in the photos. Video footage of Newsom meeting Johnson also showed neither of them were wearing masks during their encounter. 

California implemented a universal indoor mask mandate in December that was extended to run through Feb. 15. 

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SoFi Stadium, located in Inglewood, also has a mask policy requiring all fans to mask up unless they are eating or drinking.

Fox News' Emma Colton contributed to this report.