HOT MIC

News Anchor Benched for Calling Conservative U.K. Lawmaker a ‘C**t’

Channel 4 News anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy has been taken off air for a week, the network said.

Moments after finishing an interview with Tory MP Steve Baker on Wednesday, Channel 4 news anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy had some choice words, calling the conservative lawmaker a “cunt” on a hot mic. The comment didn’t make it to live broadcast, but was picked up on livestream, Deadline reported. “It wasn’t a stupid question, Steve, you know it,” Guru-Murthy could be heard saying to the Baker, referring to a conversation they had about a vote on fracking, in which the Liz Truss-directed vote went awry, suggesting a vote of no confidence hours before she resigned as prime minister. As they closed out, Guru-Murthy could be heard muttering the c-word to himself. Channel 4 said Guru-Murthy would be taken off air for a week. “Channel 4 has a strict code of conduct for all its employees, including its programming teams and on-air presenters, and takes any breaches seriously,” Channel 4’s head of news Louisa Compton said in a statement. Guru-Murthy reportedly reached out to Baker to apologize.