"Private Joke": BBC News Anchor Shows Middle Finger On Live TV, Apologises Later

In an unexpected turn of events, a BBC News anchor found herself in the news after she was caught showing her middle finger at the camera during a live broadcast on Wednesday. The video of the same is making rounds on social media. The host, Maryam Moshiri, who is the Chief Presenter of BBC, showed off her finger as she was getting ready to present the noontime news. 

As the usual BBC countdown approached zero, the screen switched to Ms Moshiri, who had her head tilted, eyes wide open, a broad smile on her face, and the gesture was caught on the camera. The anchor realised what happened and instantly composed herself before beginning the broadcast with, "Live from London, this is BBC News." She then started reading the top article from the weekly show "Prime Minister's Questions" about "former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologises for the pain and loss suffered in the UK during the coronavirus pandemic."

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

The video went instantly viral on social media and several people questioned her professionalism while others related to workplace frustrations. The anchor then took to X, formerly Twitter and explained the incident. She stated that she was joking around with her team and pretended to count down with her fingers. 

"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," the Chief Presenter wrote.

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

Ms Moshiri apologised for the same and explained that it was a private joke that was meant only for her team. However, she did not realise that this would be caught on the camera. "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."