Professor interrupted on air by cheeky children did not expect clip to go viral

Updated

The professor interrupted by his two mischievous children in an interview which has been watched across the globe had little idea the clip he had filmed was about to become an internet phenomenon.

Robert Kelly, from the department of political science at South Korea's Pusan National University, was discussing the impeachment of the country's president Park Geun-hye on BBC World News during the 11am bulletin when his two children gatecrashed the live segment.

When asked by BBC News whether he would mind the clip being shared online, Prof Kelly said: "What would that mean, please? Re-broadcasting it on BBC TV, or just here on Twitter? Is this kinda thing that goes 'viral' and gets weird?"

The video, which has since been shared from the BBC World News Twitter account, has been retweeted tens of thousands of times.

During the interview, Prof Kelly had been talking to presenter James Menendez about President Park being ousted from power, when a child burst into the room unannounced and proceeded to dance behind him.

Prof Kelly managed to keep a straight face and continued to discuss whether the decision would affect South Korea's relationship with North Korea, only for an infant in a baby walker to then arrive bouncing into the room.

At this point, Prof Kelly seemed unable to answer the questions with the chaos unfolding behind him.

A split second later, a woman could be seen sliding into the room to frantically gather the children and pull them out.

As the children were heard wailing in the background, Prof Kelly smiled, apologised and continued his segment.

The clip lit up social media, prompting many users to watch it over and over again.

One Twitter user wrote: "Spit out my coffee when the toddler rolled in. I can relate. Whenever I'm interviewing someone on the phone, my dogs go nuts."

Former shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander tweeted: "This clip made me laugh out loud. #Therebutthegraceofgod."

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