“Don’t Look Up” is back in the news after an April 12 interview on “Good Morning Britain” between anchor Richard Madeley and climate activist Miranda Whelehan left many viewers cringing and drawing connections to Adam McKay’s star-studded Netflix satire. Whelehan appeared on the morning news show on behalf of the Just Stop Oil activist group, but Madeley undermined her during the interview in a way many social media users found “patronizing” and “misogynistic.”
Whelehan demanded the U.K. government end all new oil licenses, exploration and consent in the North Sea. Madeley responded to her by downplaying her activism, saying, “But you’d accept, wouldn’t you, that it’s a very complicated discussion to be had, it’s a very complicated thing. And this ‘Just Stop Oil’ slogan is very playground-ish isn’t it? It’s very Vicky Pollard, quite childish.”
Madeley appeared distrustful of Whelehan’s information, which is where the connections to “Don’t Look Up” ignited on social media. A centerpiece scene in the film finds scientists played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence failing to get two morning news anchors (Cate Blanchett and Tyler Perry) to take their scientific findings about the end of the world seriously. A video comparing the “Good Morning Britain” interview to the “Don’t Look Up” scene earned 1.5 million views and counting on Twitter in less than a day.
Whelehan had not seen “Don’t Look Up” until after her “Good Morning Britain” interview went viral. The activist wrote in an April 13 essay for The Guardian: “Now that I’ve watched the film, I understand the references people have been making. The worst part is that these presenters and journalists think they know better than chief scientists or academics who have been studying the climate crisis for decades, and they refuse to hear otherwise. It is willful blindness and it is going to kill us.”
“I wanted to sound the alarm about oil exploration and the climate crisis, but ‘Good Morning Britain’ just didn’t want to hear,” Whelehan also wrote, adding later in the essay, “When the interview finished, I tried to speak more to Ranvir Singh and Madeley to stress how serious this is; Madeley just told me to be quiet and watched the weather presenter.”
Watch Whelehan and Madeley face off on “Good Morning Britain” in the video below.
'I think the children and the future deserve that.'
'Just Stop Oil' activists protested across London this weekend to demand an end to the fossil fuel economy. Meanwhile, the cost of living crisis means many people are paying more & more for fuel. Are oil protests justified? pic.twitter.com/mnnIFlJvQT
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) April 11, 2022
So folks have been comparing the weird @GMB morning show interview with the climate activist in the UK with *that* scene from #DontLookUp.
So we at the @MehdiHasanShow put them side by side & the results are.. astounding. Reality mirroring art!
Watch:pic.twitter.com/0n13zgQ2hd
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) April 13, 2022
