Someone Needs to Hire Vanilla Ice as a Local Weatherman Already

Hurricanes sometimes bring out the best in people. Prime example: Vanilla Ice, one-hit wonder and white rapper, turns out to make an excellent weatherman. From his home in Palm Beach, which he seems to be refusing to evacuate, Vanilla Ice (a.k.a Robert Matthew Van Winkle) has been posting periodic updates on the storm...

By Antonia Noori Farzan

October 7, 2016

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Hurricanes sometimes bring out the best in people. Prime example: Vanilla Ice, one-hit wonder and rapper, turns out to make an excellent weatherman.

This hurricane is serious and coming right at me. I'm going to ride out the storm. I'll keep you updated pic.twitter.com/LQGzAFY9O8
— Vanilla Ice (@vanillaice) October 6, 2016

From his home in Palm Beach, which he seemed to be refusing to evacuate, Vanilla Ice (AKA Robert Matthew van Winkle) posted periodic updates on the storm.

Right now things are pretty calm, but you know what that means, the calm before the storm. The entire Florida Georgia and Carolina Coast
— Vanilla Ice (@vanillaice) October 6, 2016

Riders on the storm. I am right on the ocean in Palm Beach looking at evil darkness sky coming with the hurricane
— Vanilla Ice (@vanillaice) October 6, 2016

What exactly does that mean? Who knows. But it was no less insightful than the commentary coming from the TV reporters getting blown away on the beach. ("If you see this water... it's going to be flooding very soon... We're going pan out so you can get a better look.")

Vanilla Ice wasn't an obvious choice for official chronicler of Hurricane Matthew. One of the great tragedies of the storm is that DJ Khaled is currently in New York City, and we don't get to follow along on Snapchat as he tells us how real it is out there. But Vanilla Ice has admirably filled that role.

It's starting to get nasty here in Palm Beach #HurricaneMatthew
— Vanilla Ice (@vanillaice) October 7, 2016

This is crazy- riding the storm here in Palm Beach #HurricaneMatthew
— Vanilla Ice (@vanillaice) October 7, 2016

#HurricaneMatthew is pounding Palm Beach right now. Flooding and debris flying everywhere
— Vanilla Ice (@vanillaice) October 7, 2016

A lot of people were mad at him for refusing to evacuate, including the Florida Democratic Party, which sniped at him on Twitter:

We advise listening to your local officials, not @vanillaice. If you are in an evacuation zone, you should leave now. #HurricaneMatthew https://t.co/Xt1XkH4ftk
— Florida Democrats (@FlaDems) October 6, 2016

Whatever, Florida Democrats. Vanilla Ice knew what the people wanted: harrowing updates from the heart of the storm. Can someone from WSVN-TV (Channel 7) or WPTV-TV (Channel 5) give him a call for the next one?

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Antonia Farzan is a fellow at New Times. After receiving a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University, she moved to South Florida to pursue her dream of seeing a manatee and meeting DJ Khaled (ideally at the same time). She was born and raised in Rhode Island and has a BA in classics from Hamilton College.

Contact: Antonia Noori Farzan

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