Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland's presence in Washington DC is something of a watershed.
Following her election to the House of Representatives as a Democrat representing New Mexico in 2018, she joined fellow Democrat Sharice Davids of Kansas as the first Indigenous women elected to Congress.
The first Native-American women ever to serve in Congress, Rep. Deb Haaland & Rep. Sharice Davids share a moment together after being sworn in. This is long overdue, representation matters.pic.twitter.com/B5lt0Qdvz3— Simar (@Simar) 1546548845
Then, earlier this year, she became the first Indigenous Cabinet Secretary when Democratic President Joe Biden appointed her Secretary of the Interior.
Now, it seems Haaland might be able to add another "first" to her resume: First Cabinet Secretary to have a staffer interrupt a late-night television interview by crawling across the floor in the background.
That's what happened during Haaland's appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers.
You can watch the moment here:
It all went down when a photographer who is a member of Haaland's staff was trying to get a shot of the Secretary's appearance on the show, which was being done remotely.
To do so, they surreptitiously crawled across the floor in the background and then hid behind a desk. Or at least, tried to do it surreptitiously, but definitely didn't succeed.
Perhaps misjudging the camera frame on Haaland, the staffer could be seen crawling along, looking at the camera as if trying to judge whether they were visible.
But it was impossible to miss them—even for Meyers, who immediately, and hilariously, called them out.
Interrupting Interior Secretary Haaland, Meyers quipped:
"I'm sorry, Secretary. I'm going to interrupt you real quick."
"You have a staffer who fully crawled on the carpet behind you, and it is the greatest thing I've ever seen."
As Haaland laughed, Meyers addressed the photographer directly.
"Sir? Sir, we know you're behind the desk."
The jig thoroughly up, the photographer's head popped up from behind the desk, to laughs from Meyers' studio audience.
On Wednesday, Meyers apologized after revealing the "sir" was a woman named Tami.
Meyers said:
"I want to apologize."
"How dare I give a man credit for a woman's job, especially when her job is to be the funniest thing that happened on our show this week."
Of course, the internet has been unable to stop laughing about this either.
Tami!!! She\u2019s been the secretary\u2019s photog for years and I hope is getting a kick out of this tonight.https://twitter.com/sethmeyers/status/1395128130474479626\u00a0\u2026— Tim Fullerton (@Tim Fullerton) 1621474714
Now it all makes senseTami is the best.— Trout Wrangler \ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f (@Trout Wrangler \ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f) 1621476698
junk had me weak— Doc\u2019s Da Name 2021 (@Doc\u2019s Da Name 2021) 1621459590
Oh, my! pic.twitter.com/SkvO3vJcbC https://twitter.com/sethmeyers/status/1395128130474479626\u00a0\u2026— Sanho Tree (@Sanho Tree) 1621468731
Interior\u2019s photographer Tami will stop at nothing to get the best shot! She\u2019s so sly, she snuck past @sethmeyers! \n\nhttps://youtu.be/VSzUlufZm_E\u00a0https://twitter.com/Interior/status/1395032576486739969\u00a0\u2026— Melissa Schwartz (@Melissa Schwartz) 1621437502
The staffer stole the show. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/deb-haaland-seth-meyers-staffer-steals-show_n_60a638c1e4b0d45b7525b296?ncid=engmodushpmg00000004\u00a0\u2026 via @HuffPostEnt— karenfadus (@karenfadus) 1621514275
Watched the interview cause I admire @SecDebHaaland , but the staff member crawling behind her is just absolutely hilarious @LateNightSethhttps://youtu.be/VSzUlufZm_E— Edge (@Edge) 1621427121
Now that the internet knows how much fun Secretary Haaland is, hopefully we'll be seeing more of her and her staff.
