Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis has confused the president of United States and prime minister of United Kingdom as she updated viewers on the latest allegations about Boris Johnson.
It took Maitlis a short while to realise when she was referencing the front page of the Guardian that she had attributed allegations of an affair to Trump rather than Johnson.
She told viewers: “And the face that’s been on all our screens today… Jennifer Arcuri speaking on that Good Morning Britain television interview this morning, denying or not confirming either way that she had a relationship with Donald Trump.
As Maitlis moved to the next segment of the programme, the studio guests surrounding her intervened.
“Sorry,” she said as she started to laugh.
“That’s taken the story on to a different direction!” joked The Sun correspondent Tom Newton-Dunn.
“Or even Boris Johnson! I was actually trying to get back to some of the earlier stories that we were covering,” explained the presenter.
The slip-up sparked some Twitter commentary from viewers who branded it a “Freudian slip”.
MORE: Double standards – Boris Johnson continues to mimic Trump’s poisonous playbook
“I am so down for @maitlis saying ‘Donald Trump’ instead of ‘Boris Johnson’. Never mind Freudian slips. The two men are effectively the same person,” posted Jonathan Lis.
Cass Blakeman tweeted: “Emily Maitlis did it! She accidentally substituted Donald Trump’s name for #BorisJohnson’s in #JenniferArcuri scandal. #WhatWouldFreudSay? Fact is, it’s totally believable.”
Caroline Patterson posted: “Surreal moment there when @maitlis suggested #JenniferArcuri refused to say whether she had an affair with Donald Trump! But nothing would surprise any of us any more…”
Dr Mike Ward tweeted: “In an interesting Freudian slip last night on #Newsnight, the splendid @maitlis confused Donald Trump and Boris Johnson for a moment. You can see why. Both are serial philanderers and gropers who consistently fail to distinguish between facts and stuff they just made up; and oth suffer from terminal bad-hair”.
Twitter user Bakehouse Cottage wrote: “@maitlis can’t tell the difference between Boris Johnson and Donald Trump. Neither can I or anyone else. What an outrageous state to have reached where two of the most obnoxious charlatans are leaders of the free world.”
Most popular
Farage is forced to explain his finances
Biden’s long-awaited decision is game-changing
Sanity is coming home
Trump is losing it
