CNN’s Gary Tuchman is a well-regarded reporter who knows how to bring a bit of levity when filing segments in even the toughest circumstances.
He might have found the limits of what is considered an appropriate level of humor during a live report for AC360 Monday night when he asked a New Orleans-based victim of Hurricane Ida named Daniel if he planned on proposing marriage to the girlfriend with whom he lives. Daniel did not appear to be amused.
The awkward segment came towards the end of an interview of Daniel’s neighbor, Dart Sowell, whose house was nearly leveled by the category 4 strength hurricane wins of Ida. Tuchman opened the live report by telling Anderson Cooper and CNN viewers how the house collapsed, and the 49-year-old Dart fell from the second floor to the bottom of the house but was fortunately not seriously hurt.
Following a brief interview with the collapsed house in the background, Tuchman turned to the neighbor to hear his side of the story. But Tuchman found an angle to ask the gentleman if he plans to propose to his girlfriend in the middle of a story about these two individuals who escaped life-threatening weather conditions.
“Daniel was in his house right next door with his wife,” Tuchman started, only to be interrupted by his subject, who clarified, “Girlfriend!”
“Oh, girlfriend, I’m sorry,” Tuchman clarified, to which Daniel said, “Don’t get me in trouble.” Tuchman curiously pivoted from his Hurricane coverage to focus on this individual’s personal life, asking, “Are you ready to propose?” to which Daniel both hemmed AND hawed.
“Got him there,” Tuchman proudly stated before turning to the camera and saying, “See, we are trying to have a good time while we are here too.”
In fairness to Tuchman, his subjects clearly were not offended by his personal prying but “having a good time” in a hurricane-ravaged New Orleans by asking about pending marriage proposals seemed a bit off, to say the least.
*story by MEDIAite
