To some viewers, it looked like a weatherman was urinating in the snow. But it was apparently just a misunderstanding.
And for that, "Social media owes our friend Mike Seidel an apology," NBC anchor Brian Williams said on Monday night's "NBC Nightly News" broadcast.
A live weekend segment during the NBC telecast showed meteorologist Mike Seidel caught off guard while covering a snowstorm in North Carolina.
Almost immediately, the moment took off on social media.
"The Weather Channel does give me time to go to bathroom," Seidel laughed. "About a half an hour later, somebody sent a link to a website and I went, 'oh my gosh! Really? That's what they think?"
Seidel explained the broadcast actually showed him trying to reconnect his communications with NBC.
"I was hearing the nightly broadcast through my earpiece which is connected to my cell phone," he said. "The connection on the cell phone dropped and at that point I had no way of hearing what's happening in New York."
Seidel then had to take his bulky winter gloves off to redial in order to reconnect to weekend anchor Lester Holt through through his earpiece.
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While Seidel said that social media didn't owe him an apology, Williams' request does have a point.
The story was shared on Facebook, Twitter and by many news organizations before anyone confirmed what actually happened. Seidel says no one reached out to him.
Williams wrapped up his statement on Monday by saying that the rumors of Seidel "writing his name in the snow" was in fact just the weatherman "working to make it right."
The sentiment really touched the meteorologist.
"It was just unbelievable," Seidel said about Williams's defense. "He didn't have to do that, but he did and I can't thank him enough."
