This has to be one of the most painfully awkward live TV gaffes we've ever seen...
During Thursday morning's broadcast of New Zealand's The AM Show, host Mark Richardson inadvertently revealed his co-host Ryan Bridge's sexuality to viewers.
It all happened during a segment of the show when everyone was discussing collector's items, reports Stuff. Richardson made an off-hand joke about how the "only thing" Bridge "collects" is ex-boyfriends, which was met with Bridge (who looked uncomfortable) taking a long, awkward pause.
"Yes, it's true, I'm gay. There we go, it's out there," Bridge, who was not publicly out prior to the broadcast, said in response.
It's been a wild, wild week for outings. Bridge's unceremonious public reveal of his sexuality comes on the heels of controversy surrounding Filipino actor Alex Diaz, who came out as bi on Tuesday after he was outed by a personal trainer he was sending sexual messages to on Instagram. While it seems like Richardson's on-air gaffe wasn't done with malicious intent and was just a failed attempt at humor, it still goes without saying that outing is a very dangerous practice that robs queer people of the chance to control their own narratives about who knows about their sexuality. (Don't do it!)
"In three years of doing this job, this is as bad as I've ever felt," Richardson said later on in the show, apologizing to Bridge. "I say a lot of stuff on this show, and I mean it, and some of it walks the line. I just want to say I'm sorry."
"I wanted to say that Mark didn't do this on purpose," Bridge then said to viewers. "It wasn't like he was being mean, it was an innocent, honest mistake. If you caught what was said before, it's not something I've tried to hide, it's something my friends and family have known about for a very long time."
You can watch the whole, awkward AF gaffe here.
