A lot of people were baffled by Naga Munchetty’s apology for liking some tweets
You probably saw BBC Breakfast presenter Charlie Stayt’s funny comment to Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick on Thursday, seeing as it trended on Twitter for hours.
Just in case you didn’t – here’s what happened.
Charlie Stayt – "Robert Jenrick, your flag is just a little bit small." 😊#BBCBreakfast pic.twitter.com/QfnyG8RqC1
— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) March 18, 2021
Even the MP smiled, and it gave Twitter a laugh in the midst of all the bad news, picking up reactions like these –
Give Charlie Stayt a Television Journalism Award for this beautiful moment with Robert Jenrick 🇬🇧 @TVNaga01 held it together… just.
🤣 Yes #BBCBreakfast pic.twitter.com/kvwZHPj8gi— Mark Conway (@MarkConway87) March 18, 2021
I've had to watch this on a loop. Too funny … https://t.co/biF15KBrTR
— PaulF (@PhDole) March 18, 2021
But it seems that not everybody was allowed to laugh at the quip, because Charlie’s co-presenter Naga Munchetty subsequently tweeted this.
I 'liked' tweets today that were offensive in nature about the use of the British flag as a backdrop in a government interview this morning.
I have since removed these 'likes'.
This do not represent the views of me or the BBC.
I apologise for any offence taken.
Naga— Naga Munchetty (@TVNaga01) March 18, 2021
Since the tweets are now ‘unliked’, we don’t know what they were, but her apology certainly caused a Twitter storm – from two angles.
There were people taking offence at the fact that she’d liked tweets, which they also presumably couldn’t identify after the fact.
Only because there was so much negative publicity to you both being so snidy. Abit late Showed what you both really think of our flag and our Queen
— Kate Hoey (@CatharineHoey) March 18, 2021
Naga, I stopped watching BBC in the morning two years ago because of you and your anti-British views. I don’t believe that your apology is genuine, it’s only to save your job @BBCBreakfast when will something be done?
— Julie FB (@JulieFranklinB2) March 18, 2021
A lot more people, however, thought that no apology was necessary, and the complaints were – frankly – ridiculous.
1.
The union flag is supposed to be a rallying point for the British people, not a deliberate & divisive distraction from political decisions that have killed tens of thousands of us. But here we are.
— James O'Brien (@mrjamesob) March 19, 2021
2.
I fucking live for replies like this. pic.twitter.com/ov3qRdOlGA
— Jamie East (@jamieeast) March 19, 2021
3.
What is it about Naga Munchetty that riles the angry pink Brexitty old men so much? Fully expect Naga and Charlie Stayt to lose their jobs this week, for being pretty much the only ones on TV to see and call out the ridiculous flag fetishising for the idiocy it is.
— Dan O'Hagan (@danohagan) March 19, 2021
4.
If Naga wants to laugh at a ridiculous man with a massive flag behind him (because it’s ridiculous he’s got one in the first place) she can.
And she certainly shouldn’t be forced to apologise for laughing. https://t.co/HxYXIqaLoh
— Emma Kennedy💙 (@EmmaKennedy) March 19, 2021
5.
The UK, 2021:
Fully grown adults who have spent the past several years howling incessantly about ‘FREE SPEECH’ enter their second day of soiling their undergarments in white-hot, apoplectic rage over a TV presenter laughing at a joke about a flag.
— 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 Max 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ (@SpillerOfTea) March 19, 2021
6.
NOT DISGRACEFUL
130k Covid deaths
Billions to cronies for PPE
Breaking international law
4m kids in poverty
Helping Tory donor save £45m
£37bn on failing Test & Trace
Threatening right to protest
Actual bullyingDISGRACEFUL
Making a joke about a flag pic.twitter.com/I2xqr4Tewt— David Schneider (@davidschneider) March 19, 2021
7.
The year is 2034 and OFCOM has received 10,000 complaints about Naga Munchetty after she mocked a Tory MP for failing to complete intercourse with a flag on morning TV
— James Felton (@JimMFelton) March 19, 2021
8.
Naga cannot 'like' few tweets but @BBC 's chairman Richard Sharp can donate £400 000 to tory party.
— Taru (@taru_sisko) March 18, 2021
9.
No-one should ever apologise for liking a tweet. It's the most absurd hyper-sensitive thin-skinned nonsense.
— Ian Dunt (@IanDunt) March 19, 2021
We’ll leave the last word to Henry Mance.
Britain can be a country famous for its humour, or it can be a country where TV presenters have to apologise for light-hearted comments about politicians appearing with flags. Not sure it can be both.
— Henry Mance (@henrymance) March 19, 2021
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Source Naga Munchetty Image Screengrab, Screengrab