In world news and current events today, the age of social distancing has created a whirlwind of Zoom-meetings-gone-wrong and “Zoombombing” videos compiling all of the various Zoom meeting fails that inevitably arise when working remotely from home.
From children barging in with demands for snacks, to getting to see Liz Truss’s Union flag home décor to David Mundell being “unable to connect” with the Commons during the first digital Prime Minister’s Questions (more commonly known as the PMQ’s), there have been countless entertaining scenes.
On Tuesday morning, July 14th, Scottish National Party (SNP) MP John Nicolson brought us another iconic clip as his orange tabby cat Rocco made an uninvited appearance during a live virtual UK Parliament meeting of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, prompting laughter from other members on the call.
The Ochil and South Perthshire MP was taking part in the meeting, which had heard from the chief executive and director of policy of ITV as part of discussions on the future of public service broadcasting. Nicolson was asking about the use of subtitles on children’s TV, when his contribution became itself worthy of children’s TV as a fluffy ginger tail hilariously popped up before him.
“I apologize for my cat’s tail,” Nicolson says in the video, before making a memorable appeal to the cat: “Rocco, put your tail down.”
Clearly Rocco was particularly interested in what was being said, as he got very close to the computer to listen closely.
Only his ginger and white striped tail could be seen crossing the camera as Nicolson attempted to finish his sentence.
He tried to keep going: “Why .. and I apologize for my cat’s tail … why are you not doing this by default …”
But the MP had to get involved as Rocco took his time on screen. Nicolson gently moved the tail out of the lens before he made a memorable appeal to the cheeky cat: “Rocco, put your tail down.”
The committee members chuckled as the cat went offscreen and disappeared from view.
Funny cat videos are a dime a dozen on the internet, but this cat intrusion on meeting video is brilliant in its simplicity, as the funny and adorable cat interrupts the Parliament discussion with his furry tail.
Check out Rocco’s legend-in-the-making viral appearance:
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