Russian News Anchor Fired for Giving Obama the Middle Finger

Remember that Russian news anchorette, Tatyana Limanova, who flipped viewers 'the bird' right after uttering Barack Obama's name? She's been fired; yet another victim of the Obama economy apparently.

Unfortunately, it appears she was actually using the gesture to communicate to studio technicians who were trying to get her to mess up her lines. Thinking she was off-camera as footage was being run over her voice, she was a split second too soon and appeared to communicate sentiment shared with about 40% of Americans.

It appears this situation is a lose/lose for Limanova. By not flipping Obama the finger, she lost the support of a lot of Americans. By flipping the finger right after saying Obama's name, she lost the support of her employer.

Via the Telegraph:

Sources close to the channel had previously tried to defuse the row by claiming that the newsreader had believed she was off camera at the time and merely providing a voice-over for a report. She had raised her middle finger as a jokey retort to studio technicians who had been trying to put her off her stride, they said.

Here is the video.