Meteorologist says she received death threats after interrupting the Masters for tornado warnings
An Atlanta-based meteorologist was just doing her job on Sunday when she gave an emergency weather broadcast to update people on tornado watches around Georgia during coverage of the Masters Tournament. But some viewers reportedly think it wasn’t her responsibility to interrupt their golf-watching with the pertinent news. In fact, they think that she was “pretentious” for doing so.
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Ella Dorsey from CBS 46 took to Twitter to call out the viewers who were sending her inappropriate messages to express their frustration over her interruption. Some, she wrote, even sent her death threats.
“You wouldn’t be saying a damn thing if a tornado was ravaging your home this afternoon,” Dorsey wrote. “Lives are more important than 5 minutes of golf.”
To everyone sending me death threats right now: you wouldn’t be saying a damn thing if a tornado was ravaging your home this afternoon. Lives are more important than 5 minutes of golf. I will continue to repeat that if and when we cut into programming to keep people safe.
— Ella Dorsey (@Ella__Dorsey) April 14, 2019
According to the meteorologist’s responses to a number of tweets, CBS 46 had a split screen to incorporate the weather warning while keeping the Masters on the screen. She even explained that the golf tournament was shown in a larger box than her own coverage.
Still, some people denied that Dorsey received threats against her life and maintained that there were different methods of getting the information across without interrupting golf.
No death threats and there is a way to keep it net. Either you reach your audience or not. Talking for 10 min isn’t going to change anything
— Meredith Harp (@MeredithHarp) April 14, 2019
You acted pretentious af. There are 3 other local stations that had this info. All we need was a scroll at the bottom. Or, you could have popped in for a 15 second blurb every now and again. We are not idiots. We dont need you to say the same over and over again for 20 minutes.
— Chicken (@Chicken05244246) April 14, 2019
Death threats are unacceptable! Anyone who sent them are complete numbskulls BUT Y’all said the same thing over and over & over. Completely over played your ?give the report, no 1 needs u to elaborate direct people to your app your Facebook page, etc... get off the damn screen
— Ryan Lawler (@RL7272) April 14, 2019
Let’s stop and think. The golf game is on. That means only certain people are watching it and they are inside a building. Who are you trying to reach by cutting off the game? None of these women cheering you on saw it
— Black Jack (@BlackJa77012603) April 16, 2019
We just wanted to see the score when it went to split screen. Y’all couldn’t give us that.
— M (@SportsVix) April 14, 2019
Most people still agreed that death threats are unacceptable and told Dorsey to report any that she received. Many others though came fully to her defense to say that her broadcast is what helped to “save lives.”
You know what was amazing? I watched the Masters and watched the tornado warnings and listened to @Ella__Dorsey warn people about the possible tornados. Amazing how some can multi-task and other just complain.
— GA Weather Guy (@gonweatherguy) April 14, 2019
We can keep up with golf in other ways. Your information is far more important than any sporting event. The keyboard warriors who sent you threats are quiet now because their moms brought down more pizza rolls.
— Matt Chatham (@RebMattATL) April 14, 2019
The final hour of the Masters was dramatic. But if you’re sending death threats to your local meteorologist bc
you can’t figure out alternative access to watch golf, you are EXACTLY the person who needs local TV to break in to tell you when to seek shelter immediately.— Jeep Lawyer (@jeeplawyer) April 14, 2019
As someone who lives in the middle of a triangle between Lawrenceville, Lilburn and Snellville, I APPRECIATE your coverage since we were mildly paying attention to the weather but actually took action after you came on and provided urgency. Thank you!!
— Gregory C. Wimsatt (@gcwimsatt) April 14, 2019
Tornadoes are constantly changing in strength, and sometimes their path. A crawl or an app will not cover that key information that could save lives. That is the reason for continuous coverage, we are not saying the same thing over and over. Respect the meteorologists! #arwx
— Nathan Scott THV11 (@NathanScott_wx) April 15, 2019
For all of you haters going after @Ella__Dorsey, here’s what happened in Troy, Alabama, this morning.
If this happened to you while The Masters were going on, you’d be changing your tune in a heartbeat. https://t.co/VfkBOmuRI6— Shirley Burton (@oddballextreme) April 14, 2019
Dorsey didn’t immediately respond to Yahoo Lifestyle’s request for comment. However, she posted a follow-up tweet congratulating Tiger Woods on his historic win despite the controversy.
Wow. Tiger. In an interview yesterday about the earlier start time, he threw out some crazy stat about how it happened in the 70s and Jack Nicklaus won it all. I thought that was epic. Congrats to the 🐐
— Ella Dorsey (@Ella__Dorsey) April 14, 2019
Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:
National Weather Service pens sweet thank-you note after severe blizzard rocks Minnesota, Wisconsin
Family says son is a 'hero' after he digs them out of tornado debris
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