BBC News presenter forced to apologise after she gave the middle finger live on air

A BBC News presenter has been forced to apologise after she put her middle finger up live on air.

Maryam Moshiri, a chief presenter on BBC News, was presenting the lunchtime news yesterday but was unaware she was on air when she put her middle finger up to the camera.

Posting her apology on Twitter, she said she is “so sorry it went out on air!”

The clip shows her flipping off the camera and pulling her face before immediately snapping into serious mode and starting the news bulletin with: “Live from London this is BBC news”.

This isn’t satire, an actual BBC News presenter got caught giving the middle finger live.

Maryam Moshiri summing up the professionalism currently at the BBC. pic.twitter.com/QoJ4FT133J

— Chris Rose (@ArchRose90) December 7, 2023

In her apology, she said: “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.”

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…

— Maryam Moshiri (@BBCMaryam) December 7, 2023

Maryam also went viral a couple of weeks ago after demonstrating the moon on the news when they couldn’t she any pictures.

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In 2010, a similar thing happened when a BBC weather presenter also gave the middle finger without realising he was on air. The BBC was forced to apologise: “The News Channel presenter in the studio acknowledged a mistake had been made, and we apologise for any offence caused. Tomasz was not aware that he was on air, and whilst the gesture was only shown for a second, it was not acceptable.”

Featured image via BBC.

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