BBC viral interview: Guy Goma, mistaken for a tech expert, to sue BBC over footage royalties

Guy Goma became an internet sensation after BBC staff confused him with a technology expert. Photo / BBC

The BBC is to be sued by a man interviewed in a case of mistaken identity over a row about royalties.

Guy Goma became an internet sensation after BBC staff confused him with a technology expert due to be interviewed about the threat of online music to the industry.

Goma had arrived for a job interview with the corporation’s IT department when he was ushered into the BBC news studio and quizzed about a legal battle between Apple computers and the Apple Corps record company.

A bemused-looking Goma answered the questions put to him by the journalist, sharing his thoughts on the future of online music, with the clip of the amusing encounter going viral.

But the 54-year-old computer technician has claimed that he has received no payment for the 2006 interview on BBC News 24, despite it being viewed millions of times over the past 17 years.

Goma has claimed in an interview with the podcast series Accidental Celebrity that he should be entitled to some of the royalties because the BBC has profited from the clip.

‘That clip made them richer’

When asked if the BBC had contacted him since the blunder, Goma said he had contacted them but had had no response.

He said: “I am going to go to court because of the money they made from it. They have been using it for nearly 20 years with no penny to me.

“When I see that they are paying people millions here and there, that clip made them richer.”

Goma also teased that he was writing a book with the working title of “Wrong Guy”.

He was waiting in the BBC’s main reception in west London while music expert Guy Kewney was in another area preparing for his live interview.

A producer who was sent to collect Kewney was sent to the wrong reception and asked a receptionist if she had seen him.

The receptionist mistakenly pointed to Guy Goma, leading to the producer to ask if he was Guy Kewney.

Goma only heard his first name and thought the producer was taking him for his job interview.

‘God help me’

He was then led into the studio, offered make-up, fitted with a microphone and put in front of a camera.

Goma realised there had been a mistake when journalist Karen Bowerman started questioning him about the court battle between the two Apple companies.

He famously tried to bluff his way through by giving off-the-cuff answers about how the case could lead to more people downloading music online.

He said on the podcast: “I am honest. I said, ‘God help me’ because I did not know what to say. I didn’t know what was going on with the reporter, whatever they were saying.

“She didn’t realise anything. At the end of the interview, I told her she had made a mistake and had interviewed the wrong person.”

Goma said he told staff interviewing him for the job that he had been taken to a studio by mistake and had ended up on TV.

After being given a 10-minute job interview shortly after his live appearance, he was told that he was not being hired.

The BBC and Goma have been contacted for comment.