KUALA LUMPUR: A Turkish news presenter has been fired after she appeared on a live news broadcast with a Starbucks coffee cup on her desk.
The TGRT Haber (national Turkish TV channel) news presenter, Meltem Günay, was seen presenting the news on Christmas Eve with a cup from the coffee chain placed on her desk.
A video clipping of this was made viral through a post by @SosyalBedevi27 on X (formerly Twitter).
Hours later, the TV station announced that it had terminated Günay as well as the director of the news segment for 'covertly advertising' the company, which is strictly forbidden by the broadcaster.
The act drew criticism from the audience, who said the presenter was endorsing Starbucks, a company that pro-Palestinian campaigners are presently boycotting because of the company's purported support for the Israeli government.
User @ymlhynlmz23 said: "The channel isn't on my TV anyway. Good riddance TGRT!"
Another user, @DilekDo22342322 said: "We even started a boycott (against the TV channel) and deleted it."
Meanwhile, user @rafi erdogan mentioned: "For sale."
"When I saw the picture, I thought it was edited. But when I watched the video, it startled me! I mean, a surprise like a finger in the eye on TGRT," said @sahin.