Meteorologist James Spann, a broadcast meteorologist and host of the weather-related “WeatherBrains” podcast, says he was attacked online because he referred to the body of water south of Alabama by its proper name.
Spann took to X to explain the confrontation he faced; he wrote, “Earlier this morning, I posted the tropical weather outlook from the National Hurricane Center, which referred to the “Gulf of America”. He said he ” immediately received some nasty messages from people calling me everything from some type of `phobe’ to a `racist’.”
“In an ocean of mindless intolerant political extremists that are not capable of critical thinking, they are always looking for a reason to attack someone, I guess this isn’t surprising,” added Spann.
Spann is the Chief Meteorologist for ABC 33/40 (WBMA-LD), the ABC affiliate in Birmingham, Alabama. Spann has been with the station since 1996. In 2006, he started hosting the weekly weather podcast “WeatherBrains.” In 2025, he also founded the “Alabama Weather Network” which provides weather coverage for the entire state of Alabama. He holds an AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist seal.
Spann said that during last hurricane season that he made the mistake “of calling it the `Gulf of Mexico’, and was quick called a `libtard’ and `communist’.”
On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14172 known as “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness”. Among other actions, that Executive Order required the Secretary of the Interior, acting pursuant to 43 U.S.C. 364 through 364f, to “take all appropriate actions to rename as the ‘Gulf of America’ the U.S. Continental Shelf area bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the State of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and extending to the seaward boundary with Mexico and Cuba in the area formerly named as the Gulf of Mexico.”
To celebrate the official new name, the President made a holiday for it. February 9, 2025 became the first ever “Gulf of America Day.”
“I took this action in part because…the area formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico has long been an integral asset to our once burgeoning Nation and has remained an indelible part of America,” the President wrote in his proclamation. “Today, I am making my first visit to the Gulf of America since its renaming. As my Administration restores American pride in the history of American greatness, it is fitting and appropriate for our great Nation to come together and commemorate this momentous occasion and the renaming of the Gulf of America.”
The dust-up with calling the Gulf of America by its proper name isn’t the first time Spann has encountered online vitriol. In 2024, Spann attempted to debunk misinformation being spread online about Hurricane Milton but shared his frustration over a “society full of hate, anger, rage, and the inability to think clearly.”
When Spann shared a link to a FEMA page which debunked rumors around Hurricane Helene, he encountered additional hostility.
“I pass along information from officials with zero comment. I have no interest in politics. But the threats I have received from posting this are not good. Some I turned in. Some of the most hateful messages I have received come from people with Bible verses all over their profile. It is clear that we live in a society full of hate, anger, rage, and the inability to think critically. It has been very tough today, and all I do is pass along information. If you hate me, that is fine, but you might want to pull down those verses and your church affiliation. It isn’t a good look.”
