The Slatest

BBC Reporter Struggles to Report in Front of Burning Pile of Drugs, Because of the Drugs

The BBC isn’t exactly Vice when it comes to f-bomb-infused gonzo journalism. It takes itself slightly more seriously. Sometimes, despite the network’s sober-minded attempts at reporting decorum, it doesn’t work out that way. Enter BBC Middle East correspondent Quentin Sommerville, who—in the spirit of self-deprecation—shared this valiant attempt to do the news.

During the outtake of Sommerville’s story filmed at an undisclosed location four years ago, the correspondent launches into a report standing in front of a burning pile of drugs. “Burning behind me is eight-and-a-half tonnes of heroin, opium, hashish and other narcotics,” Sommervillle relays to the viewer before breaking down in a full-fledged stoner giggle. Take one. That doesn’t appear to be the only take that day.

“Mr Sommerville posted the footage online to his 24,000 Twitter follows with the message: ‘Dear tweeps, it’s been a year of bullets & bloodshed. You’ve earned a xmas laugh, at my expense,’ ” the Telegraph reports. “He later deleted the footage, apparently due to copyright issues, before copies of it emerged elsewhere online.”