Actor Dennis Quaid has gone viral for a rather chaotic interview that took place as he was trying to evacuate from the Los Angeles wildfires.
Flames have been raging across LA for days now, with 16 people dead and thousands forced out of their houses with just the belongings they could carry while fleeing to safety.
Countless citizens have lost their beloved homes and are now relying on the goodwill of strangers and their donations to get by while firefighters continue tackling the major blazes burning across the city.
One of those who had to leave his property was Quaid, 70, who is known for movies such as Breaking Away, Great Balls of Fire!, and The Parent Trap. He was instructed to evacuate from his Brentwood home.
But while doing so, one thing he probably didn’t expect to happen was to be accosted by a TV reporter from NBC 4 Los Angeles.
The footage has since spread on social media, with viewers stunned at how ‘overeager’ the journalist was, approaching Quaid with a microphone while he packed possessions into his car.
Being polite, though, Quaid still answered the presenter’s questions.
‘I’m going to walk with you, if that’s OK?,’ the reporter began as he introduced Quaid, who did not initially respond.
The Substance star later shared that he had travelled back to collect some more important items after he and his loved ones had already evacuated.
‘Who would have thought? We’ve all had a really big lesson… that our experience of reality can change in a moment,’ he said of the tragedy.
‘I came back just in case I hadn’t shut off the gas, you know, all those little things you don’t think of, and I 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 neighbours,’ he added.
Quaid continued loading things into his vehicle, and at one point, the newscaster actually went over, knocked on the driver’s window, and started interviewing him once more, alongside his dog, Peaches.
It seems Quaid took the whole thing in his stride, though, and couldn’t help but laugh when he was mocked for struggling to pack his daughters’ clothes into his flashy car.
‘It’s nice to smile, and it’s nice to be able to watch Dennis Quaid try to do something that he’s not gonna be able to do, which is fit two hampers of his 17-year-old daughter’s clothes into a Mercedes,’ the reporter smiled.
Many viewers criticised the channel for airing the segment for 15 minutes as they awaited key updates on the state of the fires.
People also slammed the reporter for overstepping the mark, with LucaGuadagnegro writing on X: ‘sorry but dennis quaid was incredibly gracious because wtf was that interviewer going on about when he’s trying to flea?? [sic]’
‘Glad the reporter is having fun. What a clown. This is all horrendous, devastating but yeah enjoy yourself’, wrote dionbird23.
‘I saw this live. This was actually at the end of about a 15 minute interview. Got really awkward at the end. The reporter seemed to think they were actually buddies’, said pjpac.
Others blasted the interview as ‘awful’ and ‘disrespectful,’ accusing the reporter of ‘snooping around’ and being ‘obnoxious’.
However, not everyone had such a harsh reaction, as Prime_History_ tweeted: ‘In the context of something serious like wildfires, these light-hearted moments can provide a brief sense of relief or distraction’.
‘For those of us trying to c if we still have a home tonight, Dennis Quaid trying to shove his daughter’s things into his car provided a much needed laugh. Also, that’s exactly how I spent today. Celebs r just like us [sic]’, wrote stevie_gillis.
Quaid’s viral clip also included a heartbreaking moment where he revealed ‘so many’ of his friends have lost homes in the devastating fires, with the likes of Paris Hilton and Beyoncé’s mother also having suffered similar fates.
He admitted that he and his wife, Laura Savoie, and kids have ‘had it lucky’ since escaping, adding: ‘I’ve had so many friends who have lost (homes).
‘My agent, he lost both of his houses, and another good friend over at Palisades had just moved into a house and was renting the other one. He lost both of them.’
Recalling waking up to a ‘plume of smoke’ on Tuesday when a blaze ‘came within 150 yards of the house’, he heaped praise on the emergency services risking their lives.
‘I can’t say enough about the firefighters and the first responders in this town. We got some good ones, good people here.’
Dennis Quaid quizzed by reporter for 15 chaotic minutes while fleeing LA wildfires