A news reporter has been slammed for the way he interviewed a Hollywood actor who was trying to evacuate his home during the devastating Los Angeles wildfires.
Dennis Quaid – known for starring in Breaking Away (1979) and Substance (2024) – was gathering his family’s belongings during a mandatory evacuation from his Brentwood home when he was approached by NBC Los Angeles reporter Robert Kovacik.
Despite the urgency of the situation, the 70-year-old remained composed and answered Kovacik’s questions politely.
“Our experience of reality can change in a moment,” he told the outlet. “We’ve had it lucky…I have so many friends who have lost [their houses… We’re fighting as hard as we can to save our city.”
The star shared that he came back to the area “just in case I hadn’t shut off the gas, you know, all those little things you don’t think of”.
“And just thought, maybe I could be there to put a hose on the roof if the embers come over at least. Something like that, or help out the neighbors,” he added.
Watch the interview below:Many viewers on social media blasted the reporter for interrupting Quaid while he was holding a large hamper of clothes and trying to pack his car.
“Not them interviewing Dennis Quaid while he frantically tries to pack his belongings to evacuate,” one person wrote on X.
“I’m embarrassed for the guy interviewing Dennis Quaid on the news. He’s trying to evacuate just like everyone else and you’re trying to make him your BFF,” another criticized.
“Watching Dennis Quad try to shove a hamper full of clothes into his car, while a starstruck reporter keeps bugging him, is one of the weirdest things I’ve seen during the LA fire coverage,” a third said.
“I just watched the most cringe news segment of my life,” a fourth user penned. “It was surreal and bizarre. The NBC LA livestream reporter would not stop dogging Dennis Quaid while he was packing his car to evacuate. He even knocked on his car window after he rolled it up. Insane harassment.”
One more viewer said NBC stopped an emergency newscast for 15 minutes “to interrupt and interview Dennis Quaid as he packs his car, *and* Dennis Quaid’s dog (Peaches?!?), while I’m waiting to see if I need to abandon my house in Sherman Oaks”.
However, the actor’s interview also earned him praise on social media, with one fan writing: “This interview was an odd mix of bizarre, comical, touching, and somewhat uncomfortable… but what I learned from it is that Dennis Quaid seems like a very nice fella.”
“I became an instead new fan of Quaid’s,” a second added. “What a standup dude (and especially how sweet he was with his scared dog) in such a stressful moment.”
Many Hollywood stars like Quaid have been left heartbroken after the catastrophic California wildfires wreaked havoc on many areas, including the affluent Los Angeles neighborhoods.
The situation remains critical as the Palisades Fire, though 11% contained, continues to push inland, threatening Brentwood and other communities near the Getty Center and UCLA, per CNN.
As of this writing, nearly 180,00 residents are still under evacuation orders and the death toll from the wildfires has reached 16.
Despite facing hellish conditions, firefighters are courageously battling the Palisades, Eaton, Kenneth, and Hurst fires, which have consumed approximately 62 square miles, an area larger than San Francisco.
