Emily Maitlis was reprimanded for swearing by her co-host Krishnan Guru-Murthy during Channel 4‘s lively coverage of the U.S. election in the UK.
During more than eight hours of live broadcasting, Maitlis — the subject of separate Netflix and Amazon dramas for her piercing interview with Prince Andrew — remarked on the “bats**t” nature of Donald Trump‘s comments about Haitian immigrants eating their pets.
Her comment amused Channel 4’s panelists and Guru-Murthy implored Maitlis to “stop swearing,” laughing that he had previously asked guests to curb their salty language.
Shortly after the incident, Maitlis briefly left the Channel 4 studio to record an episode of her The News Agents podcast with Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall. Contrary to some social media speculation, she did not storm out and later returned to continue anchoring the output.
In Maitlis’ absence, Guru-Murthy returned to the swearing, telling guests: “I’ll tell Emily off later because I know she started the swearing. It may be the middle of the night in Britain, but they’re still a little bit sensitive about that stuff.”
It was an eye-catching moment during Channel 4’s sometimes chaotic coverage, which opened with Boris Johnson, the former British prime minister, repeatedly plugging his book. After flourishing a copy to camera, Johnson was told to stop by Guru-Murthy. “Enough … it’s so cheap,” the presenter said. The former politician said: “There’s absolutely nothing you can do to stop me … I’m allowed to plug my book.”
Johnson, a supporter of Trump, later called out Channel 4 content chief Ian Katz on air and grumbled about the broadcaster’s “massively skewed” election coverage. Katz was in Washington D.C. to oversee the output, posting a picture of the former PM before coverage got underway.
Johnson was replaced by other panelists later in the night, with Guru-Murthy stating: “Boris Johnson has been fired for banging on about his book too much.” It’s not clear if this was planned or whether Channel 4 really did feel the need to intervene.
Other guests included Stormy Daniels, who revealed that she had not been home for months and was living in an RV, after her address was disclosed during Trump’s hush-money trial. At one point, Channel 4 also sat her next to Michael Cohen, the lawyer who organized Trump’s payment to the former porn star and served as the prosecutor’s star witness during the trial.
