Flipping the bird on-air can land you in a heap of trouble. A BBC presenter had to apologize after she gave the middle finger at the start of a program.
Maryam Moshiri, one of BBC News’ chief presenters, was seen at the start of the BBC News bulletin at noon with her middle finger raised after the end of the program’s countdown. She quickly lowered her hand before reading out the headlines for the day.
After word spread about the presenter’s mishap, Moshiri had to apologise for her actions, saying that she had been joking around with the team, pretending to count down using her fingers. “When we got to 1 I turned [my] finger around as a joke and did not realise that this would be caught on camera,” she wrote online.
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.”
Some people did take offence to the gesture, calling her unprofessional. Dozens of people also found the action quite amusing, with one watcher writing: “As a BBC licence payer I demand more of this type of behaviour.”