U.K. news anchor Emily Maitlis was reprimanded by her co-host live on air after cursing during her coverage of the U.S. election.
Maitlis, who is best known for her interview with Prince Andrew, was hosting Channel 4’s election coverage through the night, U.K. time, alongside Krishnan Guru-Murthy.
In the middle of the broadcast, she was asking one of the guests in the studio about Trump’s immigration policies when she said: “When Donald Trump talked about the eating cats and dogs, half of America was just thinking ‘This is batshit, I can’t believe what he’s saying, this is gonna be the end of him’ –“
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Before she finished her question, Guru-Murthy interjected, saying “Stop swearing! I had to tell them off for swearing and then you do it,” he continued, referring to the rotating line-up of guests through the night.
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Maitlis, who spent almost two decades at the BBC before leaving to front her own podcast, was unapologetic, replying: “I don’t know what else, how else, you would describe it.”
Later Guru-Murthy again refenced Maitlis’s cursing while she briefly went off air, reportedly to record an episode of her podcast, saying: “I’ll tell Emily off later because I know she started the swearing. It may be the middle of the night in Britain but they’re still a little bit sensitive about that stuff.”
In the U.K. there are strict rules governing the use of curse words during broadcasts. Media regulator Ofcom, which classes the word “shit” as a moderately offensive word, has the power to investigate and even sanction networks where the broadcasting code has been flouted.
Earlier this year the regulator ruled that a radio station had breached U.K. broadcasting code by playing a clip from “Savage Love” by Jason Derulo, which contains the word “fucks.”
Variety has reached out to Channel 4 for comment.
