Fox News’ Shepard Smith said Thursday that he was going to ask a guest if she "expects us to cover your funeral" because the caller was choosing to stay in her Florida coastal home during Hurricane Matthew.
Smith posed the question before a commercial break. After the break, Smith had the caller on, who he described as a personal friend. He proceeded to berate the caller for her decision not to evacuate before the hurricane made landfall.
In the end, though, Smith did not end up asking her if she expected him to cover her funeral.
"She’s dumb," Smith said as he introduced Delores Smith to the program. Delores told Shepard that she and her husband had decided to stay in their West Palm Beach home because they hoped Hurricane Matthew would not be as devastating as news reports have suggested.
"Hope is not a strategy," Smith responded. "Why didn’t you come up and visit us for the weekend or something?"
When he realized Delores had no desire to leave, Shepard Smith decided to scare her into leaving.
"Now, are the cops coming around and making you sign a list so they know how to notify next of kin? That’s how they scare the bejeezus out of you," Smith said, apparently suggesting that Delores and her husband could die because they have decided to rough out the storm in their home.
Shepard then went into a rant about why older people in Florida may be choosing to stay through the hurricane.
"A lot of you Floridians, you’re down there in your gold years and having a high old time and let the kids back in Michigan or something and they’re sitting around the lake, going what the hell is with my mother? Why won’t she do what she’s told? You get old and think you know everything," Smith opined.
Hurricane Matthew is expected to make landfall in Florida on Thursday evening and into Friday morning. State and federal officials have pleaded with Florida citizens and tourists to leave the Atlantic coastal area because of the severity of the hurricane.