Black man wrongfully accused in Central Park uses his fame to create an Emmy-winning birding show
A devoted birdwatcher who landed a show on National Geographic after making headlines during a racial profiling incident has turned his fame into an Emmy Award after overcoming adversity.
It’s a beautiful culmination of four years of creative work spawned in the wake of the “Central Park Karen” incident, that has seen Mr. Christian Cooper produce a book, television show, and graphic novel series.
To readers for whom the 24-hour news cycle has swept this story under the rug, in 2020 Christian Cooper was in a wooded area of NYC’s Central Park called The Ramble, enjoying his lifelong passion for birdwatching when a woman threatened to call 911 on him after he asked her to put her dog back on its leash, as per the park rules.
Becoming irate, the woman called the police and said there was an African-American man threatening her life, all while the Harvard-educated Cooper recorded the unfolding scene on on his smartphone.
By posting it on social media, it became international news, and Cooper was asked to host a birding show on Nat Geo, while the woman was fired from her job as an investment manager.
On June 8th, he became a Daytime Emmy Award winner in the Outstanding Daytime Personality category for his show, Extraordinary Birder, which took viewers all over the Western Hemisphere exploring the nature and character of birds and Cooper’s lifelong hobby.
Read the full story on Good News Network, click here.
Cooper's book is also available: Better Living Through Birding - Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World
View the National Geographic Teaser Trailer for Cooper's show: Extraordinary Birder
