‘GMA’ warns reporter to avoid ‘dangerous’ downtown San Francisco during segment on closing Westfield mall
An ABC reporter admitted his bosses advised him not to appear live from downtown San Francisco on Wednesday because the area is “simply too dangerous.”
Chief national correspondent Matt Gutman told viewers that his crew was instructed to film their 4 a.m. GMT “Good Morning America” segment in a separate part of the city while reporting on the shocking closure of the Westfield Mall.
Though the shopping center — the latest in a swath of Bay Area staples to shutter their doors — cited decreasing foot traffic for its shutdown, Gutman suggested that the city’s rising crime could be to blame.
“The mayor noting that several metrics of crime are actually flat or down. But it is worth mentioning that we are not at Union Square or the Westfield Mall this morning because we have been advised it is simply too dangerous to be there at this hour,” Gutman said.
Back in the studio, Michael Strahan said Gutman’s admission was “saying a lot there.”
San Francisco has seen a dramatic rise in violent crime and the ongoing fentanyl crisis in the last year.
Robberies, arsons, grand thefts auto and homicides have all seen a rise of over 5% in 2023 compared to last year, according to police data.
Crime — which residents claim has transformed the city into a “zombie apocalypse” — has been largely to blame for the mass exodus of major corporations, including Old Navy and Nordstrom.
A viral video from earlier this month showed an entire stretch of the city’s commercial hub completely abandoned.
During the “GMA” segment, Gutman asked San Francisco Mayor London Breed whether the city should be considered “dangerous,” but the Democrat stated that the news team was focusing on the negatives.
“Well, here’s the thing, San Francisco is a major city and it has challenges. But let’s back up a little bit. You are talking about people leaving the city but not the people who are staying, expanding, coming to San Francisco,” Breed said.
That same day, Twitter CEO Elon Musk revealed that his employees “feel unsafe” visiting the social media headquarters.
“[They’ve] have had their car windows smashed. They also got such a null response from the police that they rarely even bother reporting crimes anymore, because nothing happens,” the billionaire tweeted.
The crime rates, however, could be much worse than statistics and reports indicate.
“Crime is worse than the data shows,” San Francisco prosecutor Charles Stimson told Fox News.
“People do not report these crimes because when you have a DA who’s pro-criminal and not going to enforce the law, the cops aren’t going to go out and arrest somebody when they know the case is going to be no-papered.”
