‘Don’t Do That!’ CNN’s Jim Acosta Delivers Warning About Eclipse Safety — With Help From Donald Trump

Tommy ChristopherApr 4th, 2024, 12:20 pm
 

CNN anchor Jim Acosta gave a warning about not looking directly at the sun during a solar eclipse — with an assist from former President Donald Trump as a “visual aid.”

The network has been pre-hyping a made-for-TV celestial event coming on Monday — a rare total solar eclipse that will have you busting out the cardboard eclipse glasses and trying to get that Bonnie Tyler song out of your head.

On Thursday’s edition of CNN Newsroom, Acosta covered the eclipse with help from Tom Foreman — as well as a reminder about that time Trump looked directly at the sun during an eclipse in 2017. “Don’t do that!” Acosta told viewers:

JIM ACOSTA: Get it while you can. Absolutely. And Tom, for those of us who are lucky enough to be in the path of the eclipse, let’s talk about what you should and should not do.

And we do have a visual reference as to what you should not do. I know you have some people out there — you should not do this apparently. You should not look up at the eclipse. Don’t do that.

TOM FOREMAN: No.

JIM ACOSTA: That that will damage your eyes. The president of the United States did it some years ago.

TOM FOREMAN: Yeah. That is not a thing to do if you’re going to look at it. Yeah. You have to have protective eyewear and look specifically for this number — I’m gonna leave that just for a moment, if you want to grab a screen picture or something, you have to have at least this rating on your eclipse glasses. Make sure they’re not scratched or wrinkled or anything that would let those harmful rays get in and damage your eyes.

Likewise, don’t try to look through a camera, telescope, binocular, sunglasses without other filters already in place on those, because those can just concentrate the light and they can still damage your eyes.

This is something we’ve known for a long time. We’ve known this almost since, Anaxagoras, this Greek philosopher explained eclipses for the first time about 2,700 years ago.

JIM ACOSTA: Amazing!

TOM FOREMAN: So we’ve known it a long time. Don’t do it. Keep your eyes for looking at your dog, your children. The Final Four, things that brighten your day, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA: Very good. All right. Yes. Always listen to Tom Foreman. He’s our president, here in the newsroom. Tom, thank you very much.

In fact, an aide shouted to Trump “Don’t look!” as he was looking at the sun and pointing at it, which seemed to do the trick:

Watch above via CNN’s CNN Newsroom.

Tags: