Cesar Maia quickly realised his error.
A three-time mayor of Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro was caught joining an online meeting on Wednesday while sitting on the toilet, as per a report in the Independent. Cesar Maia, the former mayor of the city hall in Rio de Janeiro, had logged in for his Zoom conference with other council members. However, the politician quickly realised his error after the other participants of the meeting noticed that he had his trousers around his ankles. Mr Maia then hurriedly grabbed his device to show his face.
Videos going viral on social media show Pablo Mello, the councillor leading the session, surprised by the incident. He then asked the former mayor to turn his camera off. Notably, the live session was about a bill to designate Mirante da Rocinha as a cultural heritage site.
Later, Mr Maia’s office issued a statement and rendered an apology. According to his press office, the 78-year-old “suddenly felt unwell” and this “damaged his perception of the camera,” as per a Sky News report.
However, this is not the first time such an incident has occurred. In December 2023, Indian-American entrepreneur and Republican leader Vivek Ramaswamy was caught in an embarrassing moment during a live X Spaces chat with SpaceX and Tesla Chief Elon Musk, US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and several others. The chat had around 2.3 million listeners tuned in.
During the session, Mr Rawaswamy interrupted Mr Musk and said, “Gentleman, I have to go,” while the latter was sharing his opinions about getting Infowars founder Alex Jones back on the social media network. Meanwhile, as the session progressed, several people pointed out that they could hear the sounds of rushing water in the background. “Someone’s got their thing open peeing. Somebody’s got their phone in the bathroom,” Alex Jones pointed out. As per the recording of the Spaces chat shared on the platform, Host Mario Nawfal said, “Vivek, that’s your phone. But I am not able to mute you.” Mr Ramaswamy quickly realised what had happened and immediately apologised for the embarrassing moment.
Mr Musk added, “I hope you feel better now”. Replying to the same, Mr Ramaswamy said, “I feel great. Sorry about that guys.”