The BBC has issued an apology after mistaking an impostor for Senator Cory Booker. During a segment discussing the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Booker impostor was interviewed and viewers were quick to point out that it was not the New Jersey legislator.
I'm not sure who the BBC World Service just interviewed on Newshour about US relations with Saudi Arabia, but it definitely wasn't Senator Cory Booker," one person tweeted.
After news of the interview was shared online, BBC issued a statement. The broadcast company placed blame on the imposter who they claimed engaged in a "deliberate hoax."
"In our Newshour radio [program] on Friday, a man claiming to be Senator Cory Booker was interviewed in what appears to be a deliberate hoax. We have [apologized] to Senator Booker and are looking into what went wrong to make sure it doesn't happen again. The interview only aired once at 2000 GMT on Newshour on Friday 26 February and has not appeared elsewhere," BBC stated.
This would not be the first time a journalist or broadcast mistook one high-profile Black public figure for another person in recent memory. After winning his first Super Bowl title as a coach, Tampa Bay Buccaneers Offensive Coordinator Byron Leftwich was mistaken for his colleague Todd Bowles.
“I think you got the wrong guy. I got nothing to do with that. That was Todd [Bowles]," Letfwich said after being asked a question about the team's defensive gameplan.
As for Sen. Cory Booker, it appears that he is moving forward with the work of serving the public. Instead of addressing BBC's mishap, he has made public statements about food insecurity, the COVID-19 pandemic and other matters of higher importance.
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