Maryam Moshiri, one of the top anchors on BBC News, began a broadcast yesterday by flipping everyone off. The best moment is the look on her face when she lowers her finger and instantly switches to hew serious newscaster expression. Video below.
Her apology on X:
“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. 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.”
Some respondents to her post called her unprofessional and advocated defunding the BBC.
