Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger looks like a new man after finally trimming his wild beard, but his trip to a barbershop isn’t being condoned by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf.
In a video Roethlisberger posted on Monday celebrating his return to the field alongside some of his teammates, he tells a camera that he wouldn’t shave his beard until he’s able to throw a pass to an actual NFL player. Weeks later, he had become a full-on mountain man with a ridiculously unkempt beard. Roethlisberger – who played just two games in 2019 due to injury – was finally able to throw again to the likes of JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Conner, which means he allowed himself to get a long-awaited trim.
There’s just one issue. Southwest Pennsylvania is still in the “yellow phase” of reopening, and barbershops and hair salons have not yet been cleared to resume business. In the video, Roethlisberger is shown having his beard trimmed, and no one in the shot, including the barber, is wearing personal protective equipment.
Governor Tom Wolf did not directly call out Roethlisberger in his briefing on Tuesday, but he did say that no Pennsylvanian should take the chance of going to a barbershop unprotected.
Via ESPN:
“My concern is just a general concern. Anybody who puts himself or herself into harm’s way is something that I think we have to try to avoid. When you go to something like a barbershop and you’re not protected, I don’t care who you are, the chances of that virus actually wreaking havoc on your life increases.
I don’t personally think any Pennsylvanian ought to take that chance. I certainly don’t want to take that chance myself.”
Carlos Norman, owner of Norman’s Cuttin’ Edge Barbershop, said in a statement that his business has not opened, and that he gave Roethlisberger a haircut as a free “personal favor.”
