Al Roker was pummeled by Ida – then by some critics.
The 67-year-old veteran television meteorologist made a cameo appearance from New Orleans in a full wetsuit on NBC’s “Meet The Press” show on Sunday – and was immediately hit by the waves from Lake Pontchartrain as Hurricane Ida struck the region. .
“Guess we’ve lost communication,” Roker spat at one point to greet Chuck Todd, as crushing waves alternately engulfed him and receded into the water.
“This is basically a 15 mile wide F3 tornado,” the wind and water lashed meteorologist said, referring to the size and strength of the storm.
The clip quickly went viral, with worried critics asking why someone Roker’s age would risk his life and limbs to share information he could get from the National Weather Service without leaving home.
“Al roker is 67 lmao nbc does it dirty”, Twitter user @ iam_johnw2 posted.
@Rizaebellepow wrote: “It’s 2021. I don’t need to see Al Roker risk his life and the lives of his team to show me a hurricane. It can be signaled without standing outside in the middle of it.
Roker later appeared on MSNBC to assure viewers he was not in danger – and to offer a few choice words for those who said he was too old to be in the storm at all.
“Some people are like, ‘He’s too old to do this. Hey, guess what, fuck you! Try to continue! ”Roker said.
“I volunteered to come here. That’s what I do. I’ve been doing this for 40 years.
“These young punks, I’ll come after them,” he joked. “I’m going to drop them like a sack of dirt.”
Roker also tweeted a video of himself dumping water from his boots at his hotel.
“I brought a bit of Lake Pontchartrain with me,” he says in the video.