Topics: Celebrity, Social Media, Instagram, Netflix, Film and TV, Nature, World News
Gabriel Basso has explained why he made the 'instantaneous decision' to delete his Instagram account after seeing a picture of Mount Everest.
The Night Agent star, who leads the Netflix thriller as Peter Sutherland, sat down with Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday (February 3).
The late night talk show host was eager to question Basso as to why he'd deleted his Instagram - a move fans had quickly clocked on to.
Turns out, the 31-year-old had a sudden realization after mindlessly consuming a picture taken from the top of Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world.
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And no - it wasn't that the picture was AI-generated, in this instance.
"I was doom-scrolling and I saw a picture from the top of Mount Everest. And I was like, ‘Wow, this is beautiful,'" Basso explained.
“And then I stopped and I was like, ‘Wait, what?’ Why do I now know what that looks like?
“And it p****d me off that that guy stepped over literal bodies to get up there to see that view, and now I was seeing it from my couch.
“And it bothered me that I had that image in my head now without any effort to earn that visual. And I was like, ‘Dude, screw this whole platform.’”
Roughly 800 people attempt to climb Mount Everest, located on the Nepal-China border, each year, as per Ian Taylor Trekking.
Towering more than 29,000 feet above sea level, it's an incredibly dangerous feat. At least 300 people have died attempting the trek since records began, the BBC reports.
In fact, Everest's 26,000 feet mark is dubbed the death zone, because there's insufficient oxygen for humans to survive long-term, making even the most simple of manoeuvres feel impossible.
As Hillary Step Treks writes: "The body starts feeling numb... cells stop functioning and die cell by cell, minute by minute."
There are also multiple reports of people who've climbed Everest and seen dead bodies for themselves.
So while the footage from the mountain's peak might be awe-inspiring, the reality is harsh and grim.
With that in mind, Basso maintained that he 'shouldn't know' what the top of Everest looks like, adding: "Is that not insane to anyone else?”
Fallon pointed out that Basso wouldn't be able to 'unsee' the scenery, as Basso responded: "No. That's what I'm saying. If you make it to the top of Mount Everest, that should be yours. He literally stepped over bodies of people. That's all they wanted to see.
“And now I'm sitting there going, ‘Huh-huh,'" he reflected. "That's whack.”
Basso added that he wants to 'mind his own business.'
"That's the non-consensual images on the Discover page. Stop showing me these things," he said.
Gently challenging the actor, Fallon asked if he’d ever seen a movie.
“Yeah, but I asked to see it. I pressed ‘play’ to see the movie," Basso responded. "I didn't ask to see that view. It was just shown to me.”
It's a stark reminder to question what you're actually consuming on your next mindless doom-scroll.
