Christian Cooper, a birdwatcher who was a victim of a racist Karen attack in NYC’s Central Park, will now host his own series on NatGeo. The show will consist of six episodes and is currently titled, Extraordinary Birder. According to NatGeo, the show will showcase the “wild, wonderful and unpredictable world of birds,” from the perspective of Cooper. National Geographic recently spoke to Businesswire about the show, saying:
“Whether braving stormy seas in Alaska for puffins, trekking into rainforests in Puerto Rico for parrots, or scaling a bridge in Manhattan for a peregrine falcon, he does whatever it takes to learn about these extraordinary feathered creatures and show us the remarkable world in the sky above,”
It has not yet been confirmed where the show will air, but it seems likely it will air on one of National Geographic’s channels and on Disney+. The series will most likely draw in some more viewers than a show about birdwatching usually would since the host is known for something very different from what he’s doing on the show.
In May 2020, Christian Cooper was birdwatching in Central Park when Amy Cooper, who coincidentally has the same last name, accosted him and accused him of trying to attack her dog, even though footage shows her almost strangling her own dog with its leash while frantically yelling. She then called the police and started screaming and crying like she was being attacked, even though Christian Cooper was nowhere near her. Video footage of Amy Cooper having an ignorant meltdown went viral, and she lost her job at an investment firm called Franklin Templeton. The “Central Park Karen” was also charged with a third-degree misdemeanor for filing a false police report, but the charges were later dropped.
Amy Cooper has since apologized to Christian Cooper publicly, and he told Don Lemon that even though he thought what Cooper did was “racist,” he didn’t agree with all the online hate she had been getting. Christian Cooper said “I am told there has been death threats and that is wholly inappropriate and abhorrent and should stop immediately. I find it strange that people who were upset that … she tried to bring death by cop down on my head, would then turn around and try to put death threats on her head. Where is the logic in that?”
Extraordinary Birder does not yet have an official release date. Stay tuned for more details at Collider.
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