BBC News anchor caught flipping the bird on camera

BBC News anchor Maryam Moshiri became a hot topic on Wednesday night after viewers saw her giving the middle finger right before her broadcast began, which she said was a friendly joke between coworkers and not aimed at the audience.

The show opened with a quick countdown to zero. The camera cut to Moshiri, showing her smiling and flipping her middle finger before going serious and opening the show with, “Live from London, this is BBC News.”

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Moshiri posted on X on Thursday morning to explain the situation, which she described as a “silly joke that was meant for a small number of my mates” 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,” Moshiri said.

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Several people on social media commented they found the situation humorous, while others made the stills of Moshiri flipping the bird in one frame and going serious in another into a meme.

“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,” the anchor continued. “I wasn’t ‘ flipping the bird’ at viewers or even a person really.”