Video of Guyana’s president snapping back at BBC reporter’s climate quiz goes viral: ‘Let me stop you’

A video of Guyana President Mohamed Irfaan Ali blasting a BBC reporter for trying to lecture him about climate change went viral this week.

In an interview with BBC journalist Stephen Sackur, the world leader rejected the reporter’s insinuation that his country will be contributing to climate change by allowing for oil extraction off its coast.

As Sackur implied that Guyana was in the wrong for doing so, asking the leader if he has “the right” to drill, an animated President Ali put his hand up and cut him off, asking, “Does that give you the right to lecture us on climate change?”

Sackur started the conversation by enquiring about Ali’s projected carbon emission rates as a result of Guyana’s efforts to harvest fossil resources near its coast. “Let’s take a big picture of what’s going on here,” he said. “It is anticipated that $150 billion worth of oil and gas will be extracted off your coast during the next ten or two decades. It’s a remarkable person.

Sackur followed up with criticism, saying, “But think of it in practical terms: that means, according to many experts, more than two billion tons of carbon emissions will come from your seabed, from those reserves and be released into the atmosphere.”

As the reporter began asking the head of state whether he attended a recent international climate conference, the president held up his hand and said, “Let me stop you right there. Let me stop you right there.”

The president proceeded to turn the tables on the reporter, defending his country’s record of taking care of the environment and later accusing western countries of hurting it.