'They're dumb': Nathan Fielder defends 'The Rehearsal' claim after FAA denial

USA Today

5 days ago

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Nathan Fielder called the Federal Airline Administration "dumb" during a May 29 appearance on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown" to promote the second season of "The Rehearsal."
Fielder hypothesizes throughout the season that communication breakdowns between airplane pilots and co-pilots contribute to plane crashes, going so far as to become a certified non-commercial 737 pilot to test his theory.
The FAA dismissed the link in a statement obtained by USA TODAY and read to Fielder on-air.
"The FAA analyzes data from a variety of sources," the statement reads in-part. "If these programs identify elevated risks, the FAA and airline both take appropriate action to mitigate the risk and ensure safety. The FAA does not have data that supports these claims."
"That's dumb. They're dumb," Fielder responded to the statement. "The training is: someone shows you a PowerPoint slide saying, if you are a co-pilot and the captain does something wrong, you need to speak up about it ... they talk about some crashes that happened, but they don't do anything that makes it stick emotionally."
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USA TODAY reached out to Fielder's representatives for comment and did not receive a response.
Nathan Fielder CNN exchange turns awkward
The segment took an awkward turn when Fielder attempted to use the titular hosts as an example of communication breaking down.
"I'm sure Pamela, you don't say some things to Wolf or – because you're – between you two, who would be like the boss or the more – like you're Wolf Blitzer, right?' Fielder said. "Your name is first on the thing. So, I'm sure Pamela, at times you, you might not want to say, you know, oh, Wolf wants to do something you don't think it's a good idea – you might not want to express that always."
Blitzer and Brown pushed back on the insinuation with Blitzer saying, "she's very blunt."
Fielder dismissed the rebuttal saying, "you have to say that now." "You don't want to say to Wolf you can't — you know, as a journalist, you don't want to say, oh, I don't want to," Fielder said.
Blitzer defended his co-host, telling the comedian that Brown does raise objections to him.
"The great thing about Wolf is he doesn't have an ego," Brown said.