CNN is promoting a Thursday night town hall that focuses on the coronavirus and features the 17-year-old Swedish climate change activist as one of participants on its panel of experts.
The live town hall “Coronavirus — Facts and Fears” will be hosted by CNN personalities Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta. The show will feature acting Centers for Disease Control Director Richard Besser, former Health and Human Services Sec. Kathleen Sebelius — and Thunberg.
Youth activist Greta Thunberg speaks at the Climate Action Summit at the United Nations on September 23, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
Former acting CDC director Richard Besser, former HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius and activist Greta Thunberg join @AndersonCooper & @DrSanjayGupta for a live #CNNTownHall. Coronavirus – Facts and Fears, Thursday at 8 p.m. ET pic.twitter.com/I4FrXgwaL6
— CNN (@CNN) May 13, 2020
The announcement immediately set off a round of caustic jokes and criticism that questioned why CNN would put Thunberg — who lacks any medical or health credentials — on the show. (RELATED: Local Pastor Of Swedish Church Claims Jesus Christ Appointed Great Thunberg As His ‘Successor’)
You’ve got to be kidding me. So now Greta is a Covid specialist? It shouldn’t be called facts and fears. It should be called liars and lunatics.
— Pastor Greg Locke (@pastorlocke) May 14, 2020
Thunberg’s name hit the top trending on Twitter by Wednesday afternoon, the New York Post reported as fans and opponents argued over the wisdom of putting the always provocative activist on the program.
Thunberg, who was named TIME’s 2019 Person of the Year, has not commented on the fracas as of Thursday morning.
Then-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg testifies at a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee and House Select Climate Crisis Committee joint hearing on “Voices Leading the Next Generation on the Global Climate Crisis” on Capitol Hill in Washington U.S., Sept. 18, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
The Swedish high school student endeared herself to some and alienated others when she delivered a stern reprimand to the United Nations last year: “My message is that we’ll be watching you,” Thunberg warned the room full of world leaders. “You all come to us young people for hope, how dare you? You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words and yet I’m one of the lucky ones … ” (RELATED: Laura Ingraham Compares Greta Thunberg To ‘Children Of The Corn’)
President Donald Trump has suggested that Thunberg get some help for anger management.