One of the most detestable figures from the ridiculous saga that was the Mueller investigation is NBC News’ Ken Dilanian. Not so affectionally called “Fusion Ken” because of his penchant for taking marching orders directly from the shadowy group Fusion GPS, he spent years spinning wild conspiratorial tales about Trump and Russia while presenting them as authoritative on TV. He was also a major pusher of the discredited Steele Dossier, routinely defending it before finally having to admit just how wrong he was.

Today, Dilanian had an odd moment on MSNBC courtesy of a hot mic.

Ken Dilanian just said "s**t" and "f**k" on live TV as he appeared to lose his feed… YIKES pic.twitter.com/0LldQzNrjj

— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) November 10, 2020

Supposedly, he lost his feed here after hanging up on the control room, and that’s what got him so animated. My grandmother would have promptly washed his mouth out with soap, but I’m from the South. When you actually watch the clip, it does seem like he may have been reacting to something else unrelated to what he was doing on MSNBC, and you’d be forgiven for having your mind wander given the veracity with which he delivers this performance.

For his part, Dilanian says it was just technical difficulties though.

So sorry for the profanity I used on air last hour. I was experiencing some technical difficulties and mistakenly hung up on the control room, though my mic still was on. Perils of playing producer, cameraman and tech support all at the same time from home. #2020 🙃

— Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) November 10, 2020

Maybe I’m old fashioned, and I’m not really that old fashioned I suppose, but you’d think someone with as much experience with TV hits as Dilanian would be a little more guarded than this. The anchor’s reaction is priceless though. Watch until the end and you’ll see the perplexed look on the guy’s face as he realized what has just happened. All he can muster at that point is an “okay” in response.

Anyway, there’s your comic relief for the day.

(Please follow me on Twitter! @bonchieredstate)