Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/Entertainment
Entertainment

Al Roker Gives Epic Response to Twitter User Who Questioned His Credentials

Posted byBy Kiersten Willis | Published on: CommentsComments (1)

A Twitter user got the clapback of a lifetime when he decided to question how Al Roker is able to give weather updates.

The user replied to a Nov. 15 tweet from the “Today Show” that included a clip of the longtime weatherman discussing the macro-scale extra-tropical cyclone snowstorm known as a Nor’easter, which affected 123 million Americans residing along the East Coast.

Al Roker

Al Roker attends the Broadway opening-night performance for “Network” at the Belasco Theatre on December 6, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Walter McBride/Getty Images)

“Still not sure why @alroker is doing weather reporting when he’s not even a meteorologist,” tweeted Bruce Freundlich, or @taxfoe, on Sunday, Dec. 9.

Several Roker fans chimed in to defend the “Today” staple.

“He’s also a talented TV personality DOING HIS JOB! Get over it!”

“That not nice. Al is a good guy and I like his weather reports. If you don’t like it don’t watch him. It not nice to say mean things.”

“Again .. 11 followers.”

“He’s a fellow SUNY Oswego Alum. He knows winter weather!!”

But Roker didn’t need the help for long. He hit back at @taxfoe himself tweeting, “Me either, but I’m still cashing the checks. Merry Christmas!”

Roker has been a full-time part of NBC’s flagship morning show as a featured anchor and weatherman since January 1996, and although he has an American Meteorological Society Seal of Approval, he only took one meteorology course to fulfill a science requirement while obtaining his communications degree from the State University of New York at Oswego, according to Biography.com. Still, he leveraged that to land a weekend job as a weatherman at a CBS affiliate in Syracuse, N.Y. By the time longtime weatherman Willard Scott was ready to step away from “Today,” he recommended Roker, his protégé, to replace him.

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Related Stories

Back to top