It’s the finger heard around the world.
Tatyana Limanova, a newscaster for Russia‘s REN TV, a privately held network, has taken the Internet by storm, as a clip of her raising her middle fingerwhile reading President Barack Obama’s name has become tremendously popular. The incident occurred during a live broadcast earlier in the month, afterRussian President Dmitry Medvedev assumed chairmanship of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, a topic the newscast was addressing.
The position had formerly been held by Obama. Limanova displays the obscene gesture as she reads this fact.
But the whole thing may have been a bit of an accident, according to The Telegraph. It seems Limanova may not have actually known she was on camera.
The channel, which goes out to 120 million people across Russia, has declined to comment. But sources close to it have tried to defuse the row by claiming that the newsreader had believed she was off camera at the time and merely providing a voice-over for a report. According to the same storyline, the rude gesture was intended for studio technicians who had been trying to put her off her stride.