As the chaos of the pandemic drags on, it's perhaps comforting to know some things are remaining comfortably consistent in this ongoing new normal. Like people not knowing how to Zoom correctly, for example.
Because here we are, more than a year in, and people are still getting caught naked during their virtual meetings because they forgot to turn their camera off—like Canadian politician Will Amos.
Amos, a Member of Parliament in Canada, accidentally gave his colleagues an eyeful this week—but like, the full eyeful.
Amos, who represents the district of Pontiac, Quebec, had his mishap as he was joining a hybrid parliamentary session on Wednesday in which some politicians, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, were present on the floor of Parliament and others attended remotely, in order to provide for social distancing.
Amos is probably wishing he'd been among the in-person contingent right about now. His feed during the meeting showed him walking around his office completely in the buff.
Thankfully, his video was only visible internally within the House of Commons, and not as part of Canada's public-facing live feed that allows citizens to watch governmental proceedings.
Amos subsequently explained in a statement and on Twitter he had been changing clothes in advance of the meeting after having gone for a run, and didn't realize his camera was turned on.
In his statement, Amos issued an apology to his fellow MPs.
"I sincerely apologize to my colleagues in the House of Commons for this unintentional distraction. Obviously, it was an honest mistake and it won't happen again."
He reiterated that sentiment on Twitter.
Amos's exposure was thankfully brief, but enough to cause quite a stir.
A politician from Bloc Québécois, a party in opposition to Amos's Liberal Party, made a shady reference to her political opponent's mistake later in the meeting.
And screenshots of the moment went viral on social media.
On Twitter, there were plenty of laughs at Amos' expense.
But many others felt Amos' privacy was violated by screenshots of the mishap being distributed.
Given that Amos' video appeared solely on the internal parliamentary feed visible only to MPs and House of Commons staff, the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons Pablo Rodriguez has called upon the Speaker to launch an investigation into who distributed the screenshots of Amos' mishap.
The Speaker responded he would consider the move.
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