Audio of BBC reporter making snide comment about the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting is fake

BBC News Ukraine correspondent James Waterhouse appeared to have a hot mic moment —if social media posts are to be believed — in a video discussing the heated Feb. 28 Oval Office meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“The BBC forgets to cut the live feed of their reporter in Kyiv, and his comment on the Trump – Zelensky meeting is just absolutely priceless,” a March 6 Threads post read.

Its accompanying video appeared to show Waterhouse’s segment ending before an in-studio anchor took over the report. As the anchor spoke, what sounded like Waterhouse’s off-camera voice said, “Are you done? Okay. I saw a meme saying this is the second time ever that a U.S. president f—– someone in the Oval Office.” 

(Screenshot from Threads)

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The claim spread on X. “Amazing things happen when the BBC forgets to cut its reporter’s feed while covering the Trump-Zelensky fiasco,” a March 5 X post read.

But that audio is fake. The original BBC News clip uploaded March 1 did not feature any hot mic statement from Waterhouse, as seen here at the 7:20 timestamp.

Waterhouse also addressed this claim on X and Threads, saying, “There’s an AI-generated clip of me doing the rounds.” He linked to the original, blunder-free clip. 

Snopes, Full Fact and Check Your Fact also looked into this claim and reached similar conclusions that it is fake.

A BBC reporter wasn’t caught on tape cursing about the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting. We rate that claim Pants on Fire!

By

Loreben Tuquero

Staff writer

March 10, 2025

Truth-o-meter Ruling

Pants on Fire!

IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT

• The audio of a hot mic moment is fake.

Statement

Audio shows a BBC reporter making a vulgar comment about an Oval Office meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Context

social media posts

Speaker/Target

Speaker: Social Media

Statement Date

March 5, 2025