Weather Warning: Lifeguard Boots Antony Blinken from Hamptons beach
The former secretary of state was spotted lounging on East Hampton’s Georgica Beach before being told to leave amid dangerous surf from Hurricane Erin.
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Former U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was forced off the sand in East Hampton on Friday after a lifeguard ordered him to leave a beach closed by hurricane conditions.
Photographs published by the New York Post showed Blinken sitting with a friend at Georgica Beach, only to be approached by a lifeguard and a patrol vehicle. Moments later, the two packed up their belongings and left.
The East Hampton shoreline had been shuttered for days as Hurricane Erin, the first Atlantic storm of 2025, slammed the East Coast with 15–20 foot waves. Beaches officially reopened to “foot traffic” later that Friday, but swimming and lounging remained off-limits.
Erin, which peaked as a Category 5 storm with 160 mph winds, left a trail of dangerous surf and flooding across the region.
Blinken’s downtime has sparked headlines before. In 2021, he was criticized for vacationing in the Hamptons as the Taliban captured Kabul during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Three years later, he drew attention again when he strummed a guitar in a Kyiv bar while Ukraine remained under Russian assault.
This latest beachside episode may be more benign, but it adds another snapshot to the portfolio of moments where Blinken’s leisure and geopolitics collided, even if, this time, the only drama was a lifeguard enforcing the rules.