It’s just the latest example of life imitating art.
British meteorologist John Hammond issued a warning about this week’s deadly heat wave in Europe during a GB News segment. But news anchor Bev Turner’s reaction was right out of “Don’t Look Up” as she noted what a nice day it was, downplayed the threat and then lobbed a bizarre accusation at his entire profession.
“I want us to be happy about the weather,” Turner said. “I don’t know whether something’s happened to meteorologists to make you all a bit fatalistic and harbingers of doom.”
She also complained that “every time I’ve turned on, anyone’s talking about the weather, they’re saying that there’s going to be tons of fatalities, but haven’t we always had hot weather?”
Hammond delivered a blunt fact-check in a clip highlighted by Digg:
Just as Hammond warned, the heat wave broke records, making it the nation’s hottest-ever day with temperatures above 104F in some areas.
As NPR explained, those temperatures may be normal for some parts of the U.S. in summer. However, they’re so uncommon in the U.K. that the infrastructure wasn’t built with it in mind. Fewer than 5% of homes have air conditioners, for example. High temps can also wreak havoc with roads, train tracks and airport runways.
The heat wave hitting Europe this week has already been blamed for wildfires, disruptions of work and school, and hundreds of deaths.
Turner’s response to Hammond’s warning was reminiscent of a moment in the Netflix film “Don’t Look Up” when astronomers Randall Mindy and Kate Dibiasky (Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence) revealed that a massive comet was heading toward Earth during a TV interview.
News anchors Brie Evantee and Jack Bremmer (Cate Blanchett and Tyler Perry) had the exact wrong reaction:
