Boy, it’s only Tuesday, but this week has already treated us to three famous people losing their shit on camera. First, an old clip of Bill O’Reilly hosting Inside Edition made a valuable contribution to the American vernacular: “FUCK IT! Do it live!” Then Michael Bloomberg parsed the definition of “maintain” with something other than aplomb. And last night, the estimable WNBC news anchor Sue Simmons gave the world the above video, which is truly a remarkable piece of art.
What sets this one apart from your average flub on live television? (The oeuvre of local-news bloopers is so large that it has spawned imitations more popular than the real thing.) Well, for one, it’s Sue Simmons. But the clip is most compelling for Sue’s delivery and its video context. Most news outlets today have reported the immortal line in the King’s English: “What the fuck are you doing?” But Sue’s actual question was much more forceful: “The fuck are you doing?” It’s far more dramatic without the “what” and draws a starker contrast to the preceding line, which teases a friendly, news-you-can-use story about shrinking food packages. And there’s absolutely no clue as to what prompted the outburst, nor has Sue or WNBC explained. So you can’t help but imagine that she’s always on the verge of screaming obscenities when she’s on camera, which totally rocks our perception. You’d expect the sailor mouth from Chuck Scarborough, but Sue?
What really make this compelling, though, is the video that’s running as she lets it out. From what I can tell, it’s supposed to tease a story about a passenger missing from a cruise ship, and the video is this YouTube clip. It’s YouTube! Playing during Sue’s outburst that’s immediately destined for YouTube! Perfect.
1 month ago