Celebrity action lights up Nikki Fried’s Instagram Live

Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried got a little star-studded boost Monday evening in her campaign for Governor, appearing on Instagram Live with actress and political activist Alyssa Milano.

The number of viewers reached more than 1,000 as the two talked strategies for stopping COVID-19, gun control, climate change and just how bad they think Gov. Ron DeSantis is.

“We have a Governor who doesn’t care about the people,” Fried said. “He cares about running for President in 2024 and the people of our state deserve somebody who gives a crap about their life.”

Fried is running for Governor as a Democrat. She faces U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist in the Primary Election for the right to face DeSantis, who is presumed to be running for re-election, although he hasn’t formally announced it.

Fried’s usual live-streaming background — shelves filled with photographs and books — was replaced with an arcade-style Star Wars video game. For every shoutout Fried received from online viewers, Milano got two. The occasional troll popped in to say both were aligned with evil forces.

On the social media platform, Fried said she would be Florida’s first woman Governor, slagged “white dudes” with a need for power and criticized DeSantis’ social media activity. He hasn’t tweeted about COVID-19 in 18 weeks, Fried said.

“It’s like there’s no pandemic,” Fried said. “He doesn’t talk about hospitalizations; he doesn’t talk about death. He doesn’t encourage people to get the vaccine.”

Her claim only holds up if one ignores talk about COVID-19 treatment. DeSantis devoted his Twitter feed on Monday to announcing new centers for monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID-19, including four posts announcing four new centers. But Fried also criticized that, saying DeSantis is getting it backwards.

“That’s great for if you get sick … to make sure you don’t die,” she said.

The 27-minute event was marred by technical problems, though. At one point, Fried had to re-load because her audio feed kept breaking up. Milano had to re-invite her, she informed the audience. Still, Fried’s voice kept cutting in and out.

Milano wrapped it up with a final question, “Nikki, what gives you hope?”

Fried pointed to her 12-year-old niece.

“She is the most gorgeous little girl in the entire world and when I know every day that I am doing things to make sure she is safe in school, and to make sure she’s got a clean environment and that I’m potentially knocking down the last glass ceiling here in Florida so that she knows anything is possible …” Fried said. “She gives me hope and inspiration every day.”