Paheja Siririka
Two female NBC TV anchors were on Wednesday evening caught in an awkward position when one scolded the other on how she wanted to be greeted and her segment introduced during a live television broadcast of the 20h00 news.
The clip of sports anchor Jessica Kaimu aggressively reprimanding news anchor Elmari Kapunda, has been trending minutes after the incident, and has since made its rounds in South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Tanzania and Botswana.
Right after presenting the main news bulletin, Kapandu introduced the sports segment and Kaimu, to which Kaimu said: “No, you are not going to do that, you are just going to greet me and then you say take it away, you are not going to do that”.
One could sense the tension in the studio. Kapunda then interjected and said: “Jessica, we are live”, when she realised Kaimu did not know they are on air. Several seconds past with the two staring at each other and into the studio cameras in disbelieve or shock, and then the broadcast was interrupted with an ad.
Kaimu could not comment when contacted for information yesterday, but told VIBEZ! she does not have a Twitter account, and whatever is being attributed to her on Twitter is from a false account.
Within an hour after the live broadcast, the clip and hashtag ‘Jessica, We Are Live’ has raked in more than 69 000 mentions and searches.
The speed at which memes started circulating intended on breaking Namibian sprinters, Beatrice Masilingi and Christine Mboma’s, records.
Parodies of the live act have now been done by local comedian Xuro Milton, also known as Oc Ebs, singer Adora Kisting, who was also seen doing one prompting Standard Bank’s Pay Pulse services.
The on-air gaffe quickly gained prominence, with the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) breakfast show anchors recreating the scene, while eNews Africa Channel (eNCA) covered the drama under the headline Blunder On Live TV.
Local lawyer Norma Tjombe posted: “Jessica is behaving as if the genocide money is to be deposited into her bank account.” This is in reference to reparation money due to descendants of the 1904 to 1908 genocide in Namibia by then German colonial forces.
Other social media users said Kaimu brought some “colour” to the screen, while an NBC employee said: “Kama, I don’t watch NBC but they are here sharing content by NBC”. – psiririka@nepc.com.na