Tensions sometimes run high in local news, especially during an intense situation. But it’s rare to see that show up on-air. That’s what happened during a storm report on WTVA (a dual NBC and ABC affiliate in Tupelo, Mississippi) Saturday night, though, with chief meteorologist Matt Laubhan repeatedly snapping his fingers at someone off-camera named John (presumably fellow meteorologist John Dolusic) during a tornado watch report:
John is in some deep shit. (ht @BunkiePerkins) pic.twitter.com/kTdH7Af8Ci
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) April 14, 2019
Oh, and there’s more!
It continues…….. pic.twitter.com/pNHUxPM1RK
— Brad Logan (@BradLoganCOTE) April 14, 2019
(Can we talk about the “my cat died last week” on the closed captioning?)
Oh, and there was more still:
— george (@gac8) April 14, 2019
Apparently, though, the anger in that latter clip wasn’t at Dolusic, but at the Doppler radar system:
He wasn’t mad at John there (thankfully for John’s sake haha). Doppler radar went down.
— 🌾Patrick Swindoll🌾 (@DeltaRiceFarmer) April 14, 2019
In any rate, this all spawned some Twitter commentary:
https://twitter.com/willbardwell/status/1117262030275268608?s=19
Imagine getting clapped at on tv by a man wearing suspenders
— Bunkie Perkins (@BunkiePerkins) April 14, 2019
I don't know how John feels about this, but if it was me, I'd be opening up a 55-gallon can on Matt as soon as the weather clears… https://t.co/WXLODT2qhh
— Louie Riddick (@riddick_louie) April 14, 2019
And apparently, Laubhan’s done some of this in the past:
I’ve seen him do this to John before. Sometime last year he came running into the station during bad weather and quite literally kicked John off camera and was like “I’ll take it from here”…John got put in the corner that day lol
— Cindy D (@cz_def) April 14, 2019
https://twitter.com/CalWells/status/1117263851039465472
Meanwhile, others were mad that ABC’s coverage of Warriors-Clippers kept getting cut into for this:
https://twitter.com/JohnR5522/status/1117250663623397377
Tornadoes are obviously a dangerous situation, and some tension while covering them is understandable. But it’s still a bit unusual to see that show up on-air this way.
[Tim Burke on Twitter]
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.