The Family In That Viral BBC Interview Reveals Their Side Of The Story For The First Time
Yes, the professor was wearing pants.
By Sadho Ram — 15 Mar 2017, 04:18 PM
Last week, when professor Robert Kelly appeared live on the BBC to discuss the impeachment of South Korea's President, the East Asian affairs expert did not expect to become the unexpected viral sensation of the year
But that's exactly what happened, thanks, in parts, to the swagger displayed by his four-year-old daughter who entered the room and marched up to her father's desk.
Now the professor and his family, who have delighted millions of people on the Internet, are speaking for the first time to talk about the story behind the "comedy of errors"
The reason his two children were able to barge into his study in their apartment in Busan, South Korea, is because the professor forgot to lock the door to his home-office
Professor Robert Kelly's wife, Kim Jung-A, while speaking to The Wall Street journal, explained, "Most of the time they come back to me after they find the locked door. But they didn’t. And then I saw the door was open. It was chaos for me."
"I made this minor mistake that turned my family into YouTube stars," the professor told the Wall Street Journal, adding, "It’s pretty ridiculous."
People who saw the interview wondered as to why the professor didn't get up from his desk and picked up the children, assuming that he was probably in his underwear
However, the professor has shot down the theory in a follow-up interview with the BBC.
"Yes, I was wearing pants," he joked in a follow-up interview with the BBC on Tuesday (in fact, the professor who was dressed smartly, in a jacket and tie, was wearing jeans, according to The Wall Street Journal).
Speaking about his four-year-old daughter's swagger, the professor said that the reason she was in such a "hippity-hoppity mood" because she had come home after celebrating her birthday earlier that day at kindergarten
According to his follow-up interview with The Wall Street Journal, the professor described his reaction as a mixture of surprise, embarrassment and amusement but also love and affection. He said that he and his wife weren't mad at the children and they didn't scold them.
"I mean it was terribly cute,” the professor said, adding "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."