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After Rory Stewart went viral this week for his wildly inappropriate death stare on Newsnight, presenter Matt Chorley has revealed there was a motive to the madness.
The Rest Is Politics, 53, host became the internet’s favourite meme following his appearance on the BBC programme which actually aired last Friday.
Stewart was on the panel alongside former Labour leader Neil Kinnock and the Political Editor of the New Statesman, Ailbhe Rea to discuss the week’s top stories, which included Andy Burnham’s upcoming meeting with Trump and the latest drama surrounding the royal family.
However, Newsnight took a peculiar turn when the panel discussed AI Security, one of the former Tory MP’s specialist subjects.
Stewart was sharing his fears for the future of AI when China and the United States are becoming increasingly dominant in the field when Chorley asked Rea what the government was planning to curb their monopoly.
For some inexplicable reason, Stewart verociously swivelled his chair and glared at Rea with such alarming intensity that the moment has become the viral sensation of the year.
But Chorley has now claimed he was actually behind the uncomfortable moment – or at least, he could be.
The presenter says he encouraged his guests to create a viral moment to mark the first episode of Newsnight in its new 7pm slot.
He joked to the panelists: ‘Anything that can be used to go viral, maybe a punchup or whatever, a tiff at the table, if you want to do that, that’d be great.’
Stewart is yet to confirm if his exaggerated stare was an intentional favour to Chorley or a compete accident.
Chorley has since told The Guardian that he didn’t actually notice anything was off in the studio.
‘I didn’t notice Rory looking particularly intently at anyone during the course of the programme,’ he said.
It wasn’t until friends and family ‘who don’t normally’ watch Newsnight started flooding him with clips.
The clip was inescapable on social media. ‘Ladies. Find a man who looks at you like Rory looks at the political editor of the New Statesman,’ wrote @TheSundaySport.
‘When your Dad said it’s up to your mum if you can get an ice cream from the van,’ joked @KeirPIPreceiver.
‘I can’t stop laughing. What was he doing?’ asked @Entick_ while @SeveralBadgers added: ‘Well, that needs to be a new reaction GIF’.
Thankfully, Stewart is fairly accustomed to going viral.
During the 2019 Tory Leadership debate in 2019, he randomly removed his tie and told BBC Radio ’s Today programme the next day: ‘Why did I take my tie off? Well, because I felt like taking my tie off. It felt like a good idea at the time.’
He was also called out for pretending he was holding a phone to film himself in Kew Gardens, and when confronted about it, he admitted to faking the selfie.