A Twitter user captured the moment a reporter for the Weather Channel appeared to fake the severity of the winds caused by Hurricane Florence on Friday as the hurricane made landfall in North Carolina.
In a video that has been viewed over 18 million times in just 24 hours, Weather Channel reporter Mike Seidel can be seen trying to adjust his footing for what appeared to be severe winds, saying: “This is about as nasty as it’s been.”
As Seidel was talking, two people in shorts were caught on camera casually walking behind him — seemingly unaffected by the winds.
WATCH:
The Weather Channel rushed to Seidel’s defense, saying: “It’s important to note that the two individuals in the background are walking on concrete, and Mike Seidel is trying to maintain his footing on wet grass, after reporting on-air until 1:00 a.m. ET this morning and is undoubtedly exhausted.”
The video garnered tens of thousands of responses online, with the overwhelming majority of people finding the video either hilarious or upsetting since Seidel appeared to be inaccurately portraying the situation:
CNN’s Brian Stelter was one of the only people to come to Seidel’s defense and was subsequently mocked for it: