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BBC News reader Maryam Moshiri explained how that unfortunate middle finger happened and it made people love it even more

John Plunkett. Updated December 11th, 2023

You’ll already know by now the unfortunate BBC News moment when presenter Maryam Moshiri was caught on camera giving the middle finger.
It’s gone wildly viral today and is currently approaching the level officially known as ‘Simon McCoy’s pad of A4 paper’.

Now Maryam – @BBCMaryam over on Twitter – has given her side of the story and we like her even more.

‘Hey everyone , yesterday just before the top of the hour I was joking around a bit with the team 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.

‘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.’

And we’re with these people. Every single one of them.

And finally, over to Maryam’s colleague who was in the gallery when it happened …

Source @BBCMaryam