BBC News Presenter Apologizes for Using Middle Finger During Broadcast: ‘It Was a Private Joke'

A television news anchor from the United Kingdom is apologizing for flashing a middle finger during a live news broadcast.

BBC presenter Maryam Moshiri had just gone live for a broadcast on Wednesday when she used the obscene gesture while on camera. 

In the clip, which has since gone viral, Moshiri held her middle finger up for less than a second before quickly transitioning into teasing the evening’s top news stories.

Moshiri issued an apology Thursday morning on X (formerly Twitter). She suggested “it was a private joke” that was only “meant for a small number of my mates” to see.

“I was pretending to count down as the director was counting me down from 10-0 … including the fingers to show the number,” she explained. 

“When we got to 1 I turned finger around as a joke and did not realise that this would be caught on camera,” the anchor added.

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The stunning moment was clipped and shared by various social media accounts shortly after the broadcast began.

Moshiri claimed it was not her intention to do the gesture on air. “I’m sorry if I offended or upset anyone,” she said. “I wasn’t ‘flipping the bird’ at viewers or even a person really.”

Moshiri previously “worked as a business presenter on BBC News for 16 years,” according to the news outlet. 

She then spent the next four years as a presenter on the World News channel before taking on her current role as a chief presenter on BBC News in early 2023.