Watch: BBC Presenter Begins Broadcast by Flipping Off Audience

A British Broadcasting Company (BBC) news anchor was caught making a vulgar hand gesture at the start of a broadcast, prompting her to apologize for offending viewers.

The incident unfolded during a live broadcast Wednesday when “chief presenter” Maryam Moshiri was taken live as she was “presenting” the middle finger to the camera.

Moshiri quickly hid the finger and attempted to resume the transmission as normal, evidently unaware her obscene gesture had been broadcast to millions of viewers.

“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,” Moshiri later said in an X post. “When we got to 1 I turned 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,” she added.

The BBC has not said it would reprimand Moshiri for the gesture, and rather than commenting on the incident instead directed The Telegraph to her apology.

Some interpreted the incident as illustrative of what the mainstream media thinks of its audience.

The British public already knows full well what the @BBC thinks of them.

— The Sarcasticat (@TheSarcasticist) December 6, 2023

Well, at least we know how they really feel.

— 🇺🇸 Larry 🇺🇸 (@LarryDJonesJr) December 6, 2023

NOT ACCEPTABLE. IT’S TO DEFUND THE HOLE BBC NOW AND CANCEL THE BBC AND THEN CLOSE THE BBC AND THEN GIVE THE STUDIOS TO GB NEWS WHO ARE REAL PATRIOTS AND NOT LEFTIES WITH MIDDLE FINGERS DISGRASS 🇬🇧 🇬🇧 🇬🇧

— Simon Harris – Man Behaving Dadly (THAT’S DADLY) (@simonharris_mbd) December 7, 2023

Many, however, felt the incident was an honest mistake and an apology was unnecessary.

I would rate this middle finger a 8.5/10

Centering very good
Finger length
Approximate straightness and level also very good
Facial expression (Bonus) pic.twitter.com/eV885jchgV

— Kobeissi™ (@Gopic) December 6, 2023

Don’t worry about it! Anyone having a go at you for this is clearly in need of a bit more “banter” in their life.

— Sam Bowman 🇺🇦 (@s8mb) December 7, 2023

Apology rejected. It’s the best thing ever. You should be promoted if anything x

— Greg James (@gregjames) December 7, 2023

Let humans be humans! Was a great laugh 😂

— James Bardolph (@jamesbardolph) December 7, 2023

Moshiri can at least take solace in the fact she didn’t commit a Jeffrey Toobin-level faux pas.