{"id":26216,"date":"2025-01-27T10:08:16","date_gmt":"2025-01-27T15:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=26216"},"modified":"2025-01-27T10:08:16","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T15:08:16","slug":"meteorologist-matt-laubhan-who-went-viral-after-praying-on-live-tv-loses-and-then-gets-job-back-after-layoff-decision-reversed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/01\/meteorologist-matt-laubhan-who-went-viral-after-praying-on-live-tv-loses-and-then-gets-job-back-after-layoff-decision-reversed","title":{"rendered":"Meteorologist Matt Laubhan, who Went Viral After Praying on Live TV, Loses and then Gets Job Back After Layoff Decision Reversed"},"content":{"rendered":"
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WTVA 9 News \/ Youtube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A meteorologist who went viral for his live prayer and many other local meteorologists have had a tumultuous few days after they were laid off and then hired back on after backlash. Mississippi Meteorologist Matt Laubhan, who went viral in March 2023 for issuing a live prayer<\/a> for residents that were about to be impacted by an imminent tornado. \u201cSo, Amory, we need to be in our tornado-safe place. We’ve got a new scan coming in here as we speak. Oh man, like, north side of Amory, this is coming in. Oh man,\u201d said Laubhan at the time. He then bowed his head and prayed, \u201cDear Jesus, please help them. Amen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laubhan became a minor celebrity after the incident. After being asked why he chose to pray, he said, \u201cYou know, I can’t say that I was intending on praying,\u201d he responded<\/a>. \u201cIt was the kind of situation where we knew that something extremely bad was happening, when we knew that it was possible, maybe even probable, that people were being hurt and about to die. And I’m very rarely at a loss for words, and I was just feeling a little overwhelmed, honestly, and it just kind of came out.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Allen Media Group, which owns a number of weather affiliates including ABC affiliate WTVA, where Laubhan works, announced in May 2024 it was restructuring. In October Allen Media Group began laying off a number of staffers. Then AMG announced that it would be replacing local meteorologists like Laubhan with prerecorded broadcasts from its subsidiary, the Weather Channel. The move was set to lay off around 100 local meteorologists across 20 stations.<\/p>\n

Local residents quickly voiced their outrage at the decision. \u201cAllen Media should get out of the weather business altogether. Lost all credibility with their greedy, ridiculous plan to export local TV weather to a central hub at Weather Channel in Atlanta. What a disaster,\u201d wrote one user on social media.<\/a> Another user expressed her disappointment in a lengthy post on Facebook<\/a>.\u00a0 \u201cAs a lifelong resident of New Albany, Mississippi, I can confidently say that Matt was far more than just a weather anchor for our community, he is a trusted presence and a local fixture,\u201d she wrote of Laubhan. She added that \u201chis connection to the community that truly set him apart\u201d and that he was an \u201cinvaluable asset.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just a few days after the layoffs were announced, AMG released a statement to say it was halting the layoffs<\/a>. \u201cAfter receiving significant feedback across various markets, Allen Media has decided to pause and reconsider the strategy of providing local weather from the Weather Channel in Atlanta,\u201d said a sales manager for the group. WTVA\u2019s weather team announced it would be sticking around<\/a> and thanked its supporters. \u201cWithout your outpouring of messages that rang so loud, this change may not have been possible,\u201d the group said. \u201cAnd for that, we thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A meteorologist who went viral for his live prayer and many other local meteorologists have had a tumultuous few days after they were laid off and then hired back on after backlash. Mississippi Meteorologist Matt Laubhan, who went viral in March 2023 for issuing a live prayer for residents that were about to be impacted…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":627,"featured_media":26204,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,354],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christian","category-prayer"],"yoast_head":"\nMeteorologist Matt Laubhan, who Went Viral After Praying on Live TV, Loses and then Gets Job Back After Layoff Decision Reversed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/01\/meteorologist-matt-laubhan-who-went-viral-after-praying-on-live-tv-loses-and-then-gets-job-back-after-layoff-decision-reversed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meteorologist Matt Laubhan, who Went Viral After Praying on Live TV, Loses and then Gets Job Back After Layoff Decision Reversed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A meteorologist who went viral for his live prayer and many other local meteorologists have had a tumultuous few days after they were laid off and then hired back on after backlash. Mississippi Meteorologist Matt Laubhan, who went viral in March 2023 for issuing a live prayer for residents that were about to be impacted…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/01\/meteorologist-matt-laubhan-who-went-viral-after-praying-on-live-tv-loses-and-then-gets-job-back-after-layoff-decision-reversed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beliefnet News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-27T15:08:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2025\/01\/matt-laubhan-_credit-WTVA-9-News-Youtube.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cecilia Buchanan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Meteorologist Matt Laubhan, who Went Viral After Praying on Live TV, Loses and then Gets Job Back After Layoff Decision Reversed","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/01\/meteorologist-matt-laubhan-who-went-viral-after-praying-on-live-tv-loses-and-then-gets-job-back-after-layoff-decision-reversed","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Meteorologist Matt Laubhan, who Went Viral After Praying on Live TV, Loses and then Gets Job Back After Layoff Decision Reversed","og_description":"A meteorologist who went viral for his live prayer and many other local meteorologists have had a tumultuous few days after they were laid off and then hired back on after backlash. 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