BBC Forced To Apologise After Trainee Goes Rogue On News Ticker

Think you're having a bad day at work? It's not even close to the absolute shocker a poor BBC trainee has had so far.

Not only did they accidentally spam the live news ticker, leading to an on-air apology, they also managed to upset a load of Manchester Utd fans. Although you might see that as a good thing. Check it out:

TV critic and broadcaster Scott Bryan brought the unusual moment to the attention of the online community by sharing a clip on Twitter, writing: "Errrr… what is going on with the BBC News ticker?"

As is shown in the footage, a segment from the French Open plays while the ticker presents various headlines at the bottom of the screen.

At first it shows nothing out of the ordinary, presenting stories such as Boris Johnson's Partygate photos and the exposure of China's Uyghur detention camps.

But then things took a turn for the bizarre when the words 'Manchester United are rubbish' pop up, followed by: "Weather rain everywhere."

Bryan was so perplexed, he even went back to check his eyes weren't deceiving him, writing: "I have checked this on BBC iPlayer and it actually happened."

The broadcaster has since apologised for the incident, explaining that a trainee was learning how to write text for the ticker and accidentally published them onto the BBC News Channel - that's got to be a bad day at the office.

Bryan also shared the follow-up report, which shows presenter Annita McVeigh stating: "A little earlier some of you may have noticed something pretty unusual on the ticker that runs along the bottom of the screen with news making a comment about Manchester United.

"I hope that Manchester United fans weren't offended by it.

"Let me just explain what was happening - behind the scenes someone was training to learn how to use the ticker and to put text on the ticker, so they were just writing random things, not in earnest."

She continued: "Apologies if you saw that and you were offended and you're a fan of Manchester United, but certainly that was a mistake and it wasn't meant to appear on the screen."

This of course hasn't stopped the online community from making quips about the comment, with one writing: "No need to apologise, it's factual information."

For a few moments this morning the BBC News ticker said the words “Manchester United are rubbish.” pic.twitter.com/wb0CGcYYS9

— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) May 24, 2022

A second added: "The BBC should not have to apologise for speaking truth to power."

Bryan himself commented, joking: "I really hope the trainee doesn’t feel too bad. Because honestly that mistake was actually legendary and we all salute you."

Another pointed out a missed opportunity, commenting: "That would've been the perfect opportunity to have 'Woops, sorry!' show up on the ticker. C'mon BBC at least have a bit of fun with it."