Good Morning Britain’s Susanna Reid has been forced to apologise after a reporter made a “high offensive gesture” live on air. John Sweeney, 66, appeared on the ITV daytime show on Monday via video link from Kyiv to present a segment on the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Sweeney stuck up his middle finger at the camera to mimic a Ukrainian man’s response when asked about Russian president Vladimir Putin. Reid, 54, was quick to jump in and apologise to GMB viewers who may have been offended by the correspondent’s gesture.
“I understand that you felt, personally, the power of that. We do have to apologise for that gesture on breakfast television,” she said. “It is still considered a highly offensive gesture, John, and, of course, there are children watching.”. Sweeney said in response: “I am very sorry Susanna. I am an old war reporter and sometimes I forget where I am.”.
He had appeared on the morning show via video call as a clip next to him showed Ukrainian war veterans who had prosthetic limbs exercising in a special fitness centre. “There’s a bloke there that has lost both arms and one leg and so he’s got two plastic hands,” he recalled to hosts Reid and Richard Madeley.
“I said, ‘What do you think about Putin?’ I don’t want to swear. The Ukrainians have done some technology that the muscles in the stump in his arm can now control [the hand].”. Sweeney then demonstrated the man making a three-finger salute before slowly turning it into the middle finger gesture.
“It’s slow and he’s learning, but he said, ‘Wait, wait, wait,’ and he gave Putin the finger and it made me cry,” he said. Russia launched a full-scale invasion on Ukraine on February 24, 2023. Zelenskyy said he wanted to continue pushing for a "just peace" deal that includes guarantees Russia will not invade again in the future.
