BBC dad and family break silence on viral interview: “We laughed a lot”

(CBS) It was a video that “broke” the internet last week — a man being interviewed on live television only to be interrupted by his two energetic children.

On Tuesday, the interviewee, Robert E. Kelly, spoke out about the hilarious mishap, alongside his wife and two children, the surprise guests who “videobombed” his interview on BBC World News.

Kelly, a professor of political science in South Korea, was appearing via webcam to discuss the ouster of impeached South Korean President Park Geun-hye when suddenly, his young daughter, Marion, swung open the door and marched beside him. Not too far behind, her baby brother James rolled into the room in a bouncer, followed by Kelly’s frantic wife, Jung-a Kim.

The scene went viral with more than 21 million views after BBC News posted the video on its Facebook page with the caption, “When live TV goes wrong… This BBC guest’s children become the stars of the show.”

The post was shared by nearly 240,000 people and received more than 43,000 comments, most of which thanked the news network and the Kelly family for a good laugh.

In an exclusive interview with BBC News on Monday, Kelly admitted that he, too, had a good laugh after watching the video on repeat.

“We watched it multiple times, too, and our families have watched it as well,” Kelly admitted. “Everybody we know seems to think it’s pretty hysterical.”

Kelly’s wife, who had a major role in the video — scrambling across the room, trying to retrieve the children so Kelly could finish his interview in peace — also took it in stride.

“Oh yeah, we just laughed. We laughed a lot,” she said.

Kelly confessed they were “a little worried” that the unexpected interruption might jeopardize their relationship with the network.

“We were worried that BBC would never call us again,” Kelly said.

While the video brought joy to viewers over the world, it also prompted a backlash as some internet users criticized Kelly’s parenting, and others found fault with commenters who assumed Jung-a Kim was a “nanny.”

But Kim told BBC she hopes people will stop arguing about the video.

“So, I hope people just enjoy it, not argue over this thing,” she said. “I’m not the nanny. That’s not true.”

Kelly hoped people would simply enjoy it for what it is: just a video “catching a regular family off-guard.”