On NBC News’s streaming platform NBC News NOW ahead of Monday’s total solar eclipse across large swaths of the U.S., correspondent Maura Barrett had to make the once-in-a-generation event political by invoking climate change alongside Star Trek legend William Shatner.
Barrett reported from Bloomington, Indiana where Shatner would “be narrating the moments leading up to totality” and he “made a climate connection, that I think’s important to point out here” with the supposed argument about the solar eclipse drawing attention away from...climate change?!
“I asked him about people that are concerned, you know, shouldn’t we be focused on tackling climate here on Earth rather than going out and exploring space? And he said, you know, we can do both,” she explained.
Having set up this false dichotomy so as to invoke a far-left pet cause, she then played two soundbites from Shatner wondering “what’s the point of going into space, you can’t come back and you are overcome by the fumes” with the Earth now “in a dire situation”:
Well, you can do both. I mean, there’s a — but you have to have a focus on the most important part, which is staying alive. I mean, what’s the point of going into space, you can’t come back and you are overcome by the fumes. No — we are in a dire situation. [SCREEN WIPE] We’ve got to do both. We’ve got to clean up the environment and our curiosity and our ambition.
Back live, Barrett was satisfied: “So, that’s just something to think about.”
Barrett was back almost two hours later on NBC and she made sure to praise his “interesting observation” that seemed all too convenient.
“Basically, he's so interested in space exploration...and he said what's the point to explore space if you can't come down to a healthy planet. So he talked about the — the need to do both and exploring, what we’re looking at around us, understanding the universe, but also keeping our planet healthy and taking the climate crisis,” she gushed.
Tossing back to NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt, she reemphasized how it was such “an interesting perspective with — from William Shatner.”
How embarrassing for NBC, especially considering the fact that even CNN and the rest of the liberal TV networks (except ABC’s The View) were able to keep it together and not go woke.
To see the relevant NBC News NOW transcript from April 8, click “expand.”
NBC News NOW
April 8, 2024
12:33 p.m. EasternMAURA BARRETT: I actually spoke with William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk in Star Trek. He’s going to be narrating the moments leading up to totality. He talked about how magical it’s going to be to see celestial bodies lineup long each other. But he also made a climate connection, that I think’s important to point out here. I asked him about people that are concerned, you know, shouldn’t we be focused on tackling climate here on Earth rather than going out and exploring space? And he said, you know, we can do both. Here is some of our conversation.
WILLIAM SHATNER: Well, you can do both. I mean, there’s a — but you have to have a focus on the most important part, which is staying alive. I mean, what’s the point of going into space, you can’t come back and you are overcome by the fumes. No — we are in a dire situation. [SCREEN WIPE] We’ve got to do both. We’ve got to clean up the environment and our curiosity and our ambition.
BARRETT: So, that’s just something to think about. We also talked about how this is going to be such an emotional, unifying experience as thousands of people all look up to the sky at the same time. Again, Shatner leading into the total eclipse — we’ll be watching from here and then Jan — Janelle Monae will be doing a concert to wrap it all up your in Bloomington, Vicky.
VICKY NGUYEN: Pretty star-studded out there. NBC News correspondent, Maura Barrett. Maura, thank you.
(....)
NBC’s Total Eclipse 2024
April 8, 2024
2:25 p.m. EasternBARRETT: And I actually got the chance to speak with William Shatner just before as he’s going to be doing a spoken word performance leading up to totality and he spoke to that, that this is an emotional experience, it's huge that we even know why an eclipse happens, let alone can experience it all together like this across the continent of North America and he also made an interesting observation that I think’s important to note. Basically, he's so interested in space exploration — these were the oldest people to ever go up into space – and he said what's the point to explore space if you can't come down to a healthy planet. So he talked about the — the need to do both and exploring, what we’re looking at around us, understanding the universe, but also keeping our planet healthy and taking the climate crisis. And so, I thought that an interesting perspective with — from William Shatner, along with an astronomer I spoke with here at Indiana University, talking about how this event will connect us to the universe in a way that we have not been able to — we can’t do frequently and how it gets us even closer to nature.
