NBC's Meredith Vieira stated during the Jan. 7 "Today" broadcast that she found it "obnoxious" that people took pictures of a pant-less skier caught dangling from a chairlift and posted them on the Internet.
Yet apparently it's not "obnoxious" for the top-rated morning news show to devote 36 seconds of airtime to showing those pictures, as it did this morning.
Matt Lauer laughingly called Vieira out on her hypercritical stance, "I like the way you say ‘I think it's obnoxious' and we show it on the show." Vieira defended NBC's decision to show the pictures by saying, "we have to point out how obnoxious it is over and over."
Taking pictures of a man desperately in need of help rather than coming to his aid surely qualifies as obnoxious behavior. But giggling about it on national television under the watery excuse of "pointing out how obnoxious it is" is just as abhorrent.
It's nice to know that NBC personalities are taking the time to point out to us common-folk what truly obnoxious behavior looks like.
The transcript of the segment as aired at 7:20 AM EST appears below:
MEREDITH VIEIRA, co-host: Yeah, very cold. Speaking of cold, how about that skier in Colorado that was caught in the breeze, shall we say?
MATT LAUER, co-host: That is so bad.
VIEIRA: I know.
LAUER: It happened in Vail on January 1st. The chairlift's fold down seat somehow malfunctioned, causing the man to fall through a gap, which is very serious and dangerous. As you can see, he went upside down, his pants got caught on the lift, and he dangled there naked -- or half naked -- until he was rescued. I think it was like seven minutes.
VIEIRA: Yeah, but a lot of people took pictures of his ski bum there, and then they posted it. So, I think that's obnoxious, actually. Poor guy. He's hanging there, probably freaked out.
LAUER: [Laughs] I like the way you say I think it's obnoxious, and we show it on this show.
VIEIRA and LAUER: [Laughter]
VIEIRA: Well, we have to point out how obnoxious it is over and over.
