Deaf actor Marlee Matlin shut down right-wing political commentator Charlie Kirk for his ableist remark concerning live coverage of the wildfires that continue devastating Los Angeles.
Several fires, which have spread rapidly due to the Santa Ana winds, have left several thousand southern California residents evacuating their homes as firefighters continue fighting blazes in 0% containment zones.
Live news coverage continues providing crucial information made accessible to everyone, including those who are hard of hearing.
While news stations provided American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters to relay important emergency information during news conferences, Kirk groused about them as distractions.
Kirk, the co-founder of the conservative student movement, Turning Point, posted a clip of an ASL interpreter at an LA County fire briefing on January 8 and grumbled:
"Okay, seriously, can we stop giving half the screen during these crisis briefings to sign language interpreters?"
"Closed captioning exists. I have nothing against the hearing impaired of course, but this is a joke."
Not only did Kirk isolate an entire community with his words, he used the term "hearing impaired," which is considered offensive and inaccurate by members of the community who are hard of hearing.
According to the National Association of the Deaf, the term "hearing impaired" focuses on what people can’t do, and it "establishes the standard as 'hearing' and anything different as 'impaired,' or substandard, hindered, or damaged."
Kirk's gripe didn't resonate well on social media, especially with Matlin.
Matlin is a prominent member of the National Association of the Deaf and was also notably the first deaf performer, and youngest at the time at 21, to win a Best Actress Academy Award for her performance in the 1986 drama, Children of a Lesser God.
She wasn't about to put up with Kirk's ignorant comment about doing away with visual interpreters in a time of natural crisis.
So she responded with face-palm emojis and offered a simple solution for his inconvenience, writing:
"Too freaking bad. Just don't look."
People loved the clapback.
Matlin was backed by others who shared in her exasperation.
@themarleematlin/Instagram
@themarleematlin/Instagram
@themarleematlin/Instagram
@themarleematlin/Instagram
Kirk continued whining on The Charlie Kirk Show and asked for press conferences to "get back to basics" by removing half-screen juxtapositions to accompany ASL interpreters while claiming to have "nothing against" those who are deaf.
The MAGA activist continued:
“Can we please just go away with half the screen during these emergency briefings to the sign language interpreters? I have nothing against, obviously, people that cannot hear, but there’s closed captioning."
“I mean, this is just over the top, we can’t do this. We gotta get back to how it used to be."
“It’s just too much," he said, adding, "It’s a distraction, is what it is. The reason is they do these emergency briefings for fires or terrorist attacks, and you’re looking at this and you’re not listening. I don’t like it."
“Closed captioning’s perfectly fine," he claimed.
His suggestion quickly backfired and several users explained why closed captioning during an emergency isn't always effective.
The footage of the fire briefing Kirk shared featured LA County fire chief Anthony Marrone, who explained there were "four large fires burning in LA County at this time."
Marrone continued:
"We have well over 5,000 acres that have burned [in the Palisades fire], and the fire is growing. We have no percentage of containment."
"We have over 2,000 acres burning at this time [in the Eaton fire], and the fire continues to grow, with 0% containment."
You can watch the entire briefing here.
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
At least five people have died in the fires that have spread across the LA region and forced nearly 180,000 people from their homes.
The Pacific Palisades fire that started on Tuesday has now become LA's most destructive fire in history with the conflagration ravaging 17,000 acres with zero containment.
Residents in the city of Pasadena were issued an urgent alert of unsafe drinking water due to the city's Water and Power system possibly being compromised by “debris and elevated turbidity."
Important updated information is continuously being relayed and should be able to reach all communities.
And if ASL interpreters during news conferences remain a distraction to Kirk, the non-LA native can switch off and tune in elsewhere.
