BBC apologizes for interview with fake Cory Booker

The BBC has apologized for airing an interview with someone posing as Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) on Friday.

According to a post on the BBC website, the interview only aired at 3 p.m. EST last Friday but was not used any other time.

“In our Newshour radio programme on Friday, a man claiming to be Senator Cory Booker was interviewed in what appears to be a deliberate hoax,” the BBC wrote in a post it called a correction and apology. “We have apologised to Senator Booker and are looking into what went wrong to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

The message was posted to the BBC website over the weekend and the network made an on-air mea culpa Monday. 

The BBC declined to comment on how the incident occurred or when the faux U.S. politician was booked. Press representatives from Booker’s office did not immediately comment on the incident.

This was not the first time hoaxers have managed to appear on national news shows. 

Last December, an animal rights activist posed as the CEO of Smithfield Foods to appear on the show of Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo.

Before the show ended, Bartiromo became aware of the hoax and told viewers she had “an important correction to make. It appears we have been punk’d.”