Richard Gere flipped the bird on live television. But he says that it was out of his control.
Though Today show drama pales beside reports from GMA behind the scenes, the NBC news program has its moments.
On Tuesday, living legend Cher dropped an f-bomb with Hoda Kotb.
Now, Richard Gere is flipping off Savannah Guthrie. Whoops?
Richard Gere flipped the bird on ‘Today’
On the Wednesday, November 20 episode of The Today Show, Richard Gere promoted The Agency, his new spy thriller.
Today played a clip from the 10-episode series, which is a Paramount+ and Showtime project.
The video helped set up Gere’s whole segment. But the clip also cut off right before Gere’s character flipped his middle finger — showing the actor making the gesture in the studio instead.
“You just did an obscene gesture on this family morning show!” Savannah Guthrie exclaimed.
While hastily holding up a stack of papers to hide his fingers, she joked: “I’m bleeping you!”
Guthrie also recalled the previous day’s slip-up: “You know, Cher was on here doing an F-bomb yesterday so I don’t know what’s happening!”
But WHY did Richard Gere flip the bird?
“You didn’t show but that’s what I did in the piece!” Richard Gere hastened to explain. “That’s what the clip was!”
“That’s what the clip was but we cut that part out,” Guthrie countered. “But then you did it live!”
“I could see that but it didn’t make any sense without that!” Gere explained. The scene was apparently so ingrained, he added, that: “My hand did that, I have no control!”
Many people find themselves mouthing the words to scenes or gesturing along with characters on screen. One has to imagine that the impulse is even stronger for the actor who appears on screen.
The Agency is an American adaptation of The Bureau, which is a French spy thriller. It stars Michael Fassbender who is a covert agent for the CIA. The story is set at the agency in question’s London office.
Other members of the cast include Jeffrey Wright, Katherine Waterston, Jodie Turner-Smith, Dominic West, and Hugh Bonneville.
‘The Agency’ was an easy sell
Richard Gere shared that he and his wife, Alejandra Silva, had watched The Bureau before the American adaptation approached him.
Notably, this is Gere’s first-ever appearance on a TV series. “We shot it like a movie,” he said, apparently in praise. “We do it the same way. Movie directors, movie actors, the schedule is like a movie schedule. It feels the same to me.”
The Agency premieres on streaming on November 29 on Paramount+ and on Showtime. That’s Black Friday this year!