A BBC news anchor has apologised after being caught on camera giving the middle finger at the start of a programme.
At the end of the recognisable countdown to the BBC News bulletin at noon, Maryam Moshiri, one of the company’s chief presenters, was seen with her middle finger and eyebrows raised
She quickly lowered her hand and began reading headlines in a composed manner.
On X, (formerly Twitter), the broadcaster apologised for her “silly joke”, where she said she was counting down using her fingers before the start of the show.
“When we got to 1 I turned [my] 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.”
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