During Hurricane Irma, a very animated sign language interpreter was seen on TV nationwide standing in the right-hand lower corner of your TV set. The man smiled and made exaggerated movements with his arms, hands, and face. He was sporting a bright yellow shirt while supposedly interpreting the urgent warnings that Florida’s Governor Scott and other officials were passing along to the public.
Charlene McCarthy, who owns a company called VisCom that regularly provides interpreters for the county, was watching this press conference and she immediately knew that something went very wrong. McCarthy told WFLA News the problem became very evident when the words such as pizza, monster, and bear were signed on the screen but had nothing to do with the subject at hand. Most of what was signed didn’t make sense, but those three words were seen thrown into the mix.
This would only be evident to someone who knows sign language. While this man was more animated than many of the other sign language experts used at these press conferences, the general public didn’t know that he was passing along things that didn’t make sense.
Whether you were from the hearing impaired community or not, this interpreter offered enough animation through his sign language gig that he grabbed the attention of many, according to some of the social media users. He was there on stage reportingly signing the extremely important evacuation and hurricane information to those who are hearing impaired, but they were not getting the message. According to the New York Post , this so-called sign language interpreter was using all those movements and animations to pass along nothing but “gibberish.”
This interpreter, whose name is Marshall Greene, was approached at the last minute when officials needed someone to pass along important storm information at that press conference. Greene is an “amateur interpreter for the deaf,” and the county requested his help during the televised conference that was passing along “crucial information,” according to the New York Post.
Here’s what the fake sign language interpreter said during the Irma announcement https://t.co/j25QGikdNR
— Guy Kawasaki (@GuyKawasaki) September 12, 2017
McCarthy, whose agency provides experts in this field, was fuming. She said, “It was horribly unnerving for me to watch that, knowing I could provide a qualified, certified interpreter.” Social media users were also furious, with many pointing out the dangers of this situation.
With a major storm bearing down on Florida and the officials all gathered to give the citizens of the state information that could save their life, this interpreter failed to pass along this information. People on the social media sites also pointed out another problem with Greene’s presentation. They convey that he should have been looking at the camera and not the person speaking.
Greene’s family talked to reporters and said that he was just doing what the county asked him to do. Greene’s father told WFLA News , “He can’t expect to communicate something he doesn’t know .”
how can you possibly see this story and think of anything besides the Mandela memorial translator? https://t.co/o1UeGfdu48
— M White (@PJMatt) September 16, 2017
This isn’t the first time a sign language interpreter made national news. It was during Nelson Mandela’s memorial service that a fake sign language interpreter got on stage next to Barack Obama and made movements as if he were signing. He is seen in the Twitter post above. There was a major uproar at the time over an impostor getting so close to the American president. This occurred back in December of 2013, according to an archived article from NPR News.
According to Fox & Friends Weekend on Saturday morning, the deaf community is demanding an apology. You can see Greene’s performance in the video below.
[Featured Image by pattyphotoart/Shutterstock]