IT'S fair to say that the bosses of BBC Question Time have made their fair share of mistakes from their "obsession" with Scottish LibDem leader Jo Swinson to not featuring any pro-Remain MEPs in 10 years.
But the latest incident is truly bizarre.
The broadcaster's flagship political show was held in Glasgow on Thursday night, with the panel including Scottish Tory candidate for Angus Kirstene Hair, Labour's shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner, Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf, former Sunday Herald news editor Angela Haggerty and executive chairman of political consultancy firm Cicero Group Iain Anderson.
Those in charge of the programme's social media took the opportunity to mock the Glasgow accent.
A tweet of the first question of the night read: "With Ian Austen telling Labour voters to vote Tory and umpteen other inter-party fallouts, how can we trust yous when yous cannae trust each other?"
Our first question from the audience tonight. #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/PPiLjC8tWr
— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) November 7, 2019
It is unclear whether "Austen" is a typo or the person behind the tweet is mocking the way the audience member pronounced the former Labour MP's name.
Guardian journalist Dawn Foster said the Question Time bosses need to "grow up", a statement that was backed by Sky News journalist Niall Paterson.
Well said
— Niall Paterson (@skynewsniall) November 7, 2019
One Twitter user asked if the tweet was a parody while others found the wording strange.
1.
Is this a parody?
— PW (@waltonyeah) November 7, 2019
2.
Why...have you written it like that?
— Crispin (@SirMustard) November 7, 2019
3.
Why have you written this in the way it was spoken?! 😂😂
— Adrian Berry (@Mucca85) November 7, 2019
The BBC's response didn't help either. Question Time producer Polly Bullard said the questions are typed up the way the audience member writes them down.
Hi Dawn, just FYI, the audience submit written questions and we type them up, as submitted. So this - word for word - what the questioner put down. Hope that clears that up!
— Poppy Bullard (@PoppyBullard) November 8, 2019
It's funny that this seems to be the first time a spelling mistake or a regional accent was included in the question ...
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