A TV station in the US is copping social media’s wrath after its weather reporter arrived on the doorstep of a women who’s house had burnt down and sister died, only to present her with an umbrella.
The woman, identified as Mary, lives in Halifax County, Virginia and lost her home of 40 years to an unexplained blaze last week. On the very same day, her sister, Carrie Williams, 69, was killed in a motor vehicle accident on the way to Mary’s home.
Enter zany ABC13 weatherman George Flickinger who thought he’d humanise Mary’s tragic story by doing a story on her and presenting the woman with none other than an official ABC13 embossed golf umbrella.
Flickinger also signed the umbrella for Mary with a note saying he hoped it would help bring her “sunshine on a rainy day”.
Check out the cringeworthy segment below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwDfeX5LcsE
Naturally, social media was none too impressed.
“ABC13News is serving its community, one ABC13 umbrella at a time,” tweeted one. While another added: “Does that ABC13 umbrella unfold into a new house and bring back relatives from the dead?”
However, there was one supporter: “The cringe, watching everyone pile onto this edited video, where at the very end of the report he says, she was upset she had lost a previously won umbrella from ABC13, and while it’s ‘just an umbrella’ it made her happy to get that replaced.”
