Always be wary of everything you’re doing at all times, for if the Internet ever finds out what it is, someone will find a way to backlash and disgrace your name for it. Weatherman Al Roker learned that the hard way recently, as he marked a weekend trip to South Carolina with a fairly cheerful selfie. The problem? South Carolina was experiencing some heavy flooding, and Roker’s picture happened to be in front of a seemingly accident. He has since apologized.
Roker deleted the selfie tweet after Twitter went berserk on him for it, and then said his apology through the following tweet.
And when someone brought up that people are just too sensitive these days, Roker responded by saying that he should know better, and that he got “caught up in a moment of camaraderie without thinking about surroundings.” That’s mostly understandable, as I’m not sure anyone who regularly takes selfies is thinking about what else is appearing in the shot other than their face.
You can check out the offending tweet below.
It’s easy to fall into either camp with this one. For one, it definitely comes across as insulting to smile about a good day’s work when that work consists of reporting on a weather disaster that killed 9 people and trapped dozens of others. On the other hand, Roker isn’t really good-time grinning (like the person in the middle) and it’s easy to think that no one would have batted an eye had there just been wet trees behind them, or if the three people would have taken up the entire shot.
For what it’s worth, Roker definitely seems contrite and we probably won’t have to worry about him doing anything like this again in the future. At least assuming no tornados or other storms destroy any amusement parks, because it’s impossible to not smile when in the vicinity of a roller coaster.
This isn’t the only selfie that has taken people’s outrage to huge levels recently, as last week saw Arizona State University’s Alpha Chi Omega sorority getting lambasted for taking pictures of themselves during an Arizona Diamondbacks game. What most people don’t know, though, was that it was part of a T-Mobile Fan Photo promotion, and that the women won tickets to the next Diamondbacks game. What did they do with the tickets? They asked the team and Fox Sports to donate them to families of local domestic violence non-profit A New Leaf. So not ALL selfies are bad.
