Dad from viral BBC interview calls it a 'comedy of errors'

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Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Professor Robert Kelly with his wife and children, speaking to The Wall Street Journal after his interview went viral last week.
creativeContent-The Wall Street Journal

Robert Kelly spoke out about his viral BBC interview, saying the incident "was chaos for me" and "a comedy of errors."

The professor and Korea expert spoke with The Wall Street Journal about the event, where his 4-year-old daughter and 8-month-old son unexpectedly entered his office as he was participating in a live interview with the BBC about the South Korean president's resignation.

"I mean it was terribly cute," Kelly told The Wall Street Journal. "I saw the video like everybody else. My wife did a great job cleaning up a really unanticipated situation as best she possibly could ... It was funny. If you watch the tape I was sort of struggling to keep my own laughs down. They're little kids and that's how things are."

Kelly and Kim told the newspaper they weren't sure how to handle the massive media attention after clip of the interview went viral, receiving over 84 million views on the BBC Facebook page. "We stonewalled because we didn't know what to do," Kelly told the newspaper.

"Yes I was mortified, but I also want my kids to feel comfortable coming to me ... I made this minor mistake that turned my family into YouTube stars. It's pretty ridiculous."