BBC anchor shows middle finger on live broadcast, apologises after video goes viral: ‘Silly joke’
A day after the video went viral on social media, the news anchor issued an apology and explained the situation.
A video of a BBC news anchor caught showing the middle finger at the camera during a live broadcast went viral on social media on Wednesday. While the video made the internet laugh, it also led to some people raising eyebrows about the professionalism of the media organisation.
In the viral video, news host Maryam Moshiri, the chief presenter of the British broadcaster was seen with a raised middle finger as she was going to present the news on screen. As BBC switched on to the studio for the noon-time headlines, Moshiri was seen holding her finger towards the camera, with her head tilted, eyes wide open, and a goofy smile on her face. However, as soon as she realised the camera was on - which was barely within a second - Moshiri immediately turned to a traditional news anchor self and said: “Live from London, this is BBC News”.
A day after the video went viral on social media, the news anchor issued an apology and explained the situation.
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“Hey everyone, yesterday just before the top of the hour I was joking around a bit with the team in the gallery. I was pretending to count down as the director was counting me down from 10-0.. including the fingers to show the number. So from 10 fingers held up to one. When we got to 1 I turned finger around as a joke and did not realise that this would be caught on camera,” she wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
She added, “It was a private joke with the team and I’m so sorry it went out on air! It was not my intention for this to happen and I’m sorry if I offended or upset anyone. I wasn’t ‘ flipping the bird’ at viewers or even a person really. It was a silly joke that was meant for a small number of my mates.”
