Al Roker has a message for people worried about him covering Hurricane Ida
Famed reporter and weather forecaster Al Roker is down in Louisiana doing his job as Hurricane Ida approaches the U.S. Gulf Coast. And hey, guess what? He'd like you to keep your ageist concerns about that to yourself.
A clip — really, multiple clips — of Roker reporting from the shores of Louisiana's Lake Pontchartrain went viral on Sunday as people from all over voiced concern for the 67-year-old weather expert. Yeah, it's wild weather all around him in this footage. But don't forget, this is Roker's job. He's really good at it.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
You don't need to search for long on Twitter to see how people are feeling about Roker's situation.
You May Also Like
"Al Roker is too old for this shit. Get that man into a hotel. He can tell me about the weather from there," one user wrote. Another said: "What did #ALRoker do to piss off NBC? Making him get pummeled in a Hurricane seems harsh."
Just a whole, big pile of well-intentioned but deeply misguided ageist commentary. There are scores of other, similar tweets. I'm not linking to them because the people who posted them don't need to hear any grief from you. They only need to hear it from the man himself.
And so they did. It reached such a fever pitch that Roker, who should really be focused on the job of informing the public and not people worrying about his ability to do his job, was compelled to respond.
Speaking with Jonathan Capehart on MSNBC's The Sunday Show, Roker explained to the world exactly how he's feeling about his work and what people who don't know him are assuming about said work.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
"I volunteered to come out here. This is what I do. I've done this for 40 years," he explained with the patience of a person who has probably had to say the same thing before. "We all make sure we're safe, we're not going to do something that's gonna put ourselves in harm's way. As much as I love the weather and I love NBC, not gonna risk my life for it."
He also had a direct response to those who think he's "too old" to do what he's doing: "Hey, guess what? Screw you! Keep up. Keep up. These young punks. I will come after them. I will drop them like a bag of dirt."
There you have it. Al Roker, taking absolutely none of your ageist bullshit while he reports on this historic storm.
Topics Celebrities
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
