Swearing out loud is a no-no when it comes to morning television - but the unpredictability of live TV means it can happen to the best of us.
Breakfast host Matty McLean accidentally dropped the f-bomb during the show’s live broadcast this morning in front of his co-hosts after he appeared to drop his mic after an ad break.
“Oh f***, my thing’s fallen out,” he said without realising he could be heard by viewers.
Clarkson quickly reminded him, “You’re on air, you’re on air, you’re on air!”
McLean was quick to apologise to viewers for the slip-up, saying, “Welcome back to Breakfast, I’m so sorry, I just lost my communications,” before presenting the next story on the programme, about anti-monarchist protesters at the King’s coronation.
But fans of the show - and of McLean - found the slip-up entertaining and applauded his speedy recovery.
“Dropped the ball but great recovery Maddy [sic],” one viewer commented on Twitter. “Loved Jenny-May screaming in the background, ‘you’re on air, you’re on air’.”
A spokesperson for TVNZ told the Herald that in a live TV environment, “mistakes can happen” and the Breakfast team had a busy morning reporting on the wild weather hitting New Zealand.
“Matty did not realise the programme had returned from an ad break and this one slipped out when he dropped his comms device. When Jenny May alerted her co-presenters to the show being back on air, Matty apologised to our viewers,” they said.
“We’re sorry if anyone was upset by this mishap. Matty has been on our screens for a long time and this is his first slip-up.”
The clip has been removed from TVNZ+ and TVNZ 1+1, which broadcasts the show an hour later than its air time.
It’s not the first swearing slip-up on the breakfast show. In 2019, then-Breakfast host Hayley Holt accidentally dropped the f-bomb live on air.
She made the blunder when she tried to answer a question about how the size of a wave is measured. When she couldn’t quite get the pronunciation, the word slipped out.
Holt was visibly shocked with her accidental swearing, covering her mouth and grabbing co-host John Campbell for support.
Newsreader Jenny-May Clarkson reassured Holt, telling her “you’re human. It’s okay.”
The Broadcasting Standards Authority has released a new guide to complaints about offensive language on radio and TV.
It turns out that complaints about blasphemy or low-level bad language are unlikely to be upheld.
Last year, Breakfast’s hosts and viewers were shocked one morning when an uncensored version of DJ Khaled’s Wild Thoughts played on air.
The song’s explicit lyrics, which include multiple sexual references and expletives, played through the studio as the broadcast went to an ad break.
Hosts Campbell, Indira Stewart and Clarkson looked up in confusion while Stewart raised an eyebrow.
Explicit language is usually bleeped out of songs played on TV, particularly when children might be watching.
The hosts did not mention the slip-up during the rest of the broadcast.
When approached by the Herald for comment, a spokesperson for TVNZ said the uncensored version of the song was played accidentally.
“We sincerely apologise to our viewers who heard this play out. We take responsibility for getting things right and will take extra care to ensure this does not happen again.”
He was meant to say something completely different.