CNN has announced that teen climate activist Greta Thunberg will be taking part in its live town hall 'Coronavirus: Fact and Fears' on Thursday night.
The 17-year-old school climate strike firebrand will join two guests with actual expertise in healthcare, former acting CDC director Richard Besser and former Secretary of Health Kathleen Sebelius.
The network's decision to tap Thunberg for the town hall has been met with confusion on social media.
Donald Trump Jr. tweeted sarcastically: "She’s now a world renowned infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist AND a leading scientific voice when it comes to global climate policy. Just wow so impressive."
"This makes perfect sense due to her massive expertise in being righteously indignant while lecturing adults," wrote conservative commentator Ben Shapiro. "If I want to listen to a child scream at me, I have three under seven, and they have similar expertise on Covid-19 to Thunberg."
"What place does Greta Thunberg have in this town hall?" inquired journalist Yashar Ali. "A climate activist would be better suited on a different panel. She's not a climate scientist. It's a matter of placement."
In case you didn't know,
— Ryan Fournier (@RyanAFournier) May 14, 2020
Greta Thunberg was just added to CNN's "expert" coronavirus panel.
CNN is a complete joke! 🤣
CNN is hosting a program on Thursday called the 'CoronaVirus Facts & Fear TownHall"
— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) May 13, 2020
Guess who they are featuring as one of their expert panelists? The 17 year old climate change alarmist, Greta Thunberg.
I'm sorry, but when did Greta become an expert on viruses/vaccines/econ?
Guys, CNN knows their townhall has nothing to do with science, or viruses, or news, or journalism. Zucker cares people got it to trend on twitter. That's it. It's already a success. That's why Thunberg was added.
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) May 13, 2020
If you need to have Greta Thunberg show up to involve people "who otherwise wouldn't be interested" during a global pandemic, then I think the problem is already evident. https://t.co/9EE8xUtU45
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) May 13, 2020
After all the banter propelled Thunberg to the top of Twitter trends, she denied being invited as an expert panelist. She said that instead she will talk about her recently-launched campaign supporting UNICEF's efforts to help children affected by COVID-19, and will also give an interview on what it's like "being an activist in a world altered by the coronavirus."
