Overview

The Emergency Intercom "Greta Thunberg Fell Off" Controversy refers to prominent backlash towards the hosts of the Emergency Intercom podcast after Drew Phillips and Enya Umanzor, the hosts, claimed that climate activist Greta Thunberg "fell off" because they've seen less of her online lately despite Thunberg publicly supporting of Palestine in the context of the Hamas-Israel conflict while continuing to speak out about climate change. The episode was uploaded to YouTube on March 28th, 2025, and inspired significant outrage online over the following days (especially from pro-Palestine supporters), resulting in posts, memes and discourse surrounding the claim.

Background

On March 28th, 2025, the YouTube^[1] podcast Emergency Intercom uploaded episode 185 of the show, garnering over 311,000 views in four days. This was their second episode back after a roughly two-month-long hiatus. At the 36:40 timestamp, co-host Drew Phillips jokes that Greta Thunberg "fell off," saying, "That bitch is in the gutters, bitch. Like, sorry bitch."

At around the 39:33 timestamp, Phillips continues to joke about Thunberg falling off, saying that her legacy is "Lisbon, lesbian, and 'I shouldn't be up here,'" referencing several of her viral moments. He then begins to suggest that she shouldn't have disappeared, praising her fight against climate change.

Enya Umanzor continues to celebrate her career and her fight as Phillips says that he still thinks she's fighting the fight. Enya then responds, "Fighting where? Because I don't see her."

Shortly after at the 40:39 timestamp, Umanzor talks about activist Malala, saying, "Malala lowkey never fell off like Malala is always that girl, Greta you fell off because seriously what the fuck are you talking about." At the time of the podcast, Thunberg was still engaging in and posting about her activism, including pro-Palestinan and climate change activism.^[2][3]

Developments

On April 4th, 2025, the emergencyintercom Instagram^[9] page posted a statement about the controversy. In the statement, they admit they weren't aware enough of the activism Great Thunberg was doing for Palestine and if they were, they never would have made the joke. They apologize to their viewers and write, "We're committed to continuing to educate ourselves." The post gained over 72,000 likes in three days.

Online Reactions

The clip inspired notable discourse over the following days, with many criticizing the podcast hosts for mocking Greta Thunberg, downplaying her activism and Phillips for calling her a "bitch."

For instance, on March 30th, 2025, X^[4] user @impgirl_ posted, "they’re gonna call me too woke but emergency intercom is a documentary abt ppl losing their common sense and empathy as they acquire more wealth," garnering over 2,300 likes in two days.

That same day, TikToker^[5] @ifyouseethisdonttellme posted a video criticizing the podcast hosts for getting lazy with their content, claiming they're losing their relatability, which he claims that they built their brand on. He suggests people should move on from the podcast after the Greta Thunberg comments. The video garnered over 2 million views in two days.

On March 31st, 2025, TikToker^[6] @c________40b posted an edit combining footage of Greta Thunberg protesting against Israel and the Emergency Intercom hosts' comments, garnering over 350,000 views in a day. The edit was reposted by X^[7] user @oscarisaacgirl that day with the caption, "this edit PERFECTLY captures how tone deaf the latest emergency intercom episode was," garnering over 115,000 likes and 12,000 reposts in a day.

Later that day, X^[8] user @slusherry quoted the post, writing, "and i will be the woke friend Sorry," garnering over 115,000 likes in a day.

Search Interest

External References