Birdwatcher Christian Cooper set to premiere TV show 3 years after ‘Central Park Karen’ clash
Birdwatcher Christian Cooper is set to premiere a TV show on National Geographic featuring his travels across the US — leaving behind an ugly 2020 “Central Park Karen” fiasco that dragged him into an unwanted spotlight.
Cooper will host and star in “Extraordinary Birder,” a six-episode series to premiere June 17, as Amy Cooper — no relation — continues to be dogged by her panicked call to cops about the black man that led to widespread scorn and her firing from a Wall Street bank.
Though Christian rose to fame for his calm demeanor in the contentious “Karen” clash, the comic book artist and scientist makes no mention of the incident in a trailer for the new show.
“‘The fun of birding is, you never know what you’re going to get… This is what birding is about,’ Christian, 60, says in the trailer, which shows him hiking, kayaking and walking over rope bridges to meet some of the nation’s most interesting birds.
In its latest promotion for the show, NatGeo boasts: “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.”
Christian previously said he was grateful for the opportunity to “spread the gospel of birding” with the new show.
While he enjoys the spotlight, Amy Cooper has tried to keep a low profile as she fights Franklin Templeton bank for firing her a day after the video emerged of her threatening Christian.
In a statement, Franklin Templeton said it does not “tolerate racism of any kind” following the incident, which occurred on the same day George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police, setting off protests around the country.
Amy Cooper’s lawyer, Matt Litt, recently argued the bank incorrectly determined she “was a racist” when it fired her, asking the US Court of Appeals to reject a lower court’s decision to throw out her claim of wrongful termination, the New York Law Journal reported.
A three judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, however, appeared to be skeptical, disagreeing with Litt’s characterization of the bank’s decision multiple times during a hearing last week.
The viral video at the center of the fiasco showed Christian advising Amy to put her cocker spaniel on a leash in compliance with the law — triggering her to then yell at him and tell another birdwatcher she was calling the cops “to tell them there’s an African-American man threatening my life.”
She was charged with filing a false police report, as well as a misdemeanor with a penalty of a year in jail.
The charges were ultimately dropped in 2021 after she completed a set of therapy courses.
