BBC News Anchor Maryam Moshiri Apologizes For Giving Middle Finger To The Camera While Live On Television

BBC news anchor Maryam Moshiri gave her middle finger to the camera during a live news broadcast, and the clip of her doing so quickly went viral online.

She soon turned to social media to apologize for her offensive gesture.

She wrote an 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 ten to zero … including the fingers to show the number. So from ten fingers held up to one. When we got to one, I turned my middle finger around as a joke and did not realize 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.”

Most of the comments for this tweet suggest that Moshiri’s gesture was more humorous than it was offensive.

For instance, a user responded to her mistake: “I mean it ain’t that serious … its hilarious. I don’t think there is a need for [an] apology. Thanks for the meme though.”

Another user stated: “I’m a great critic of the BBC indeed! I can’t bear it especially the crappy ‘climate’ obsession and the terrible spin on everything. However this is just funny, it shows a human having a laugh and making a comical mistake. No apology necessary in my eyes.”

While Moshiri is getting plenty of support on X, no one knows how the clip of her giving the finger initially began going viral.

Robert Coxwell, the producer for the episode, stated on X that it was unfortunate that someone thought it was necessary to magnify this incident.

The producer then clarified that the clip was stolen from an internal archive system called Autorot: “Luckily Autorot provides a log of who did what because it triggers an email to say the clip they wanted is ready to be downloaded.”

“I am so deep into the workings of Autorot, I can’t tell you,” Coxwell tweeted. “Christmas could be coming early for someone!”

In December 2021, BBC faced criticism from John Cleese for a “biased” interview.

BBC also recently investigated and found that Prince William and Prince Harry were right for accusing anchor Martin Bashir of harming the reputation of the late Princess Diana by lying to her in order to get a sensational 1995 interview.