President Obama will appear on NBC’s Running Wild with Bear Grylls’ .
President Barack Obama will travel through the Alaskan wilderness with survival expert Bear Grylls for a special edition of NBC’s Running Wild with Bear Grylls, according to an announcement made by NBC on Monday.
The episode, which will be taped and air later this year, is meant to call attention to the effects of climate change on that area.
Grylls recently shared a tweet from Obama that quoted from one of the Commander in Chief’s weekly addresses that said, “As long as I’m president, America will lead the world to meet the threat of climate change.”
The second season of Running Wild with Bear Grylls is currently airing and has matched Kate Winslet, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and other famous names with Bear Grylls in order to determine their physical limits.
Lately, Obama has ventured into the entertainment industry a lot. In July he became the first sitting president to visit a federal prison – an event that was part of a Vice documentary scheduled to air in September.
Other examples include an appearance on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast where he famously used the “n-word” in a harsh conversation about race in this country.
But not everyone is excited about the upcoming episode. PETA released a statement that highlighted past criticism of Greylls’ programs.
“Bear Grylls’ shows are known as the bottom of the barrel in demeaning sexist, speciesist, and who knows what other “-ist” TV reality shows—and that’s certainly saying something,” said PETA president Ingrid Newkirk. “These internationally condemned programs, on which women have been bullied into slitting a baby pig’s throat and eating a mouse soaked in urine, are the last place for the 44th president to be seen. There are far better ways to get the message about global climate change out than by appearing on this disgusting show.”
