WHEN IT comes to live TV anything can, and quite often does, go wrong.
One of the golden rules of live television is that you should never work with animals or kids.
However, as Irish state broadcaster RTE discovered, you don’t always get a say in the matter.
One of RTE’s live broadcasts went viral on Twitter this week, though not for any of the reasons the programmers may have hoped.
The incident took place during a broadcast from Tallaght University Hospital where more than 10,000 support staff had gone on strike as part of nationwide union action.
One of the strike’s leaders, Ingrid Miley, was speaking to the camera at the time of the incident, explaining why so many were on the picket line.
But a serious interview was injected with a bit of juvenile humour when a small boy popped up next to Miley’s left shoulder.
Did this just happen 🙈 #Ingrid #RTENews pic.twitter.com/qSuQQD9Pyj
— Mick O'Keeffe (@okmick) June 25, 2019
Only present for a matter of seconds, the boy shouted “dumb f******” to the camera before disappearing out of view.
Who he was, what he was doing there and where his parents were at the time of his outburst have all been the subject of much debate.
Ingrid, to her credit, continued with the broadcast, but it didn’t go unnoticed, with footage of the incident popping up on Twitter.
Funny, childish, disrespectful or daft; it still raised plenty of smiles online.