Richard Madeley appeared to unintentionally recreate a particularly frustrating scene from the film Don’t Look Up on Monday as he argued with a climate activist live on Good Morning Britain.
Miranda Whelehan from Just Stop Oil, an activist group which has been making headlines for peacefully blocking oil terminals in Essex, was explaining why the demonstrators were trying to send a message to No.10 during the ITV breakfast show.
She said: “I don’t think any of us want to be disrupting people’s lives, but given the science and the things the academics are saying about what oil is causing around the world, this is the level of action which needs to be taken when the government is failing on their energy policies and climate pledges.”
Richard replied: “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.
″‘Just Stop Oil’, come on, there’s more to say than that isn’t there?”
“The answers are actually very simple – we need to stop new oil licensing,” she replied.
Richard then said: “How do the blockades advance that argument?
“They don’t, do they, they simply cause nothing but disruption and you get a negative reaction.”
He claimed GMB had had nothing but “furious complaints” from the viewers watching the programme, with not a single message of support.
The activist ignored this criticism, and instead pointed to the recent IPCC findings from this year which urged countries to give up using fossil fuels.
As their lively exchange was shared around on Twitter, it didn’t take long for users to add clips from the hit movie Don’t Look Up for comparison.
The 2021 film follows the journey of two scientists trying to warn everyone that an asteroid is going to destroy the world.
Directed by Adam Kay, it’s a thinly-veiled metaphor for how the world is still not taking enough action with the current climate crisis.
There’s one scene in particular which viewers were reminded of when watching Richard this morning, where the scientists are talked down to by the TV presenters.
Jennifer Lawrence’s character pointedly says, “we’re trying to tell you that the entire planet is about to be destroyed,” only for the interviewer (played by Cate Blanchett) to reply: “That’s just something we do around here, keep the bad news light!”
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.