A politician in Pakistan drew unintentional laughs when his press conference was livestreamed on Facebook with one twist: the cat filter was turned on, bestowing him with cat ears, rosy cheeks and whiskers.
Shaukat Yousafzai, from northwestern Pakistan, was speaking to reporters on Friday and became the laughing stock of the internet after a member of his social media team accidently turned on the cat filter.
Twitter and Facebook was swiftly filled with people laughing at the politicians’ faux pas. For one Twitter user, Yousafzai’s whiskered face "made her day".
The video was deleted a few minutes after the press conference from the official Facebook page of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI party), but not before it was seen people online – and spotted by an AFP reporter.
Someone accidentally turned on the cat filter while live streaming a press conference held by a regional govt in Pa… https://t.co/GvwswOT17E— Safia Khan (@Safia Khan) 1560621445
People loved it.
When a Facebook live goes wrong and gains a much wider reach than you had intended. 😅 https://t.co/RwMdYu8zUh #mojo #live #Facebook— Melodie Walter🧡 (@Melodie Walter🧡) 1560760235
Dead 😹😹 Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa govt live streams press conference with cat filter on. https://t.co/4O6CVpIS4Y— Shiv Aroor (@Shiv Aroor) 1560602362
Excellent work https://t.co/Erb0cF8b7D— Lisa Fleisher (@Lisa Fleisher) 1560762144
#Caturday.
#Caturday, the Pakistani way!🤣 https://t.co/RHLOMJlOK6— Gondwana (@Gondwana) 1560742231
Others thought it was a brief, but needed distraction from the drama that is politics.
Yousefzai confirmed the incident was real, but made light of it.
The cat filter was turned on by mistake" Yousafzai told the publication, adding "let's not take everything so seriously".
I wasn't the only one -- two officials sitting along me were also hit by the cat filter.
A statement by the PTI social media team said the incident happened because of "human error".
All necessary actions have been taken to avoid such incidents in future.