Sunrise host Matt Shirvington accidentally misgendered Amazon founder Jeff Bezos during a live interview with Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Tuesday morning.
In the embarrassing live TV blunder, the Channel Seven host, 46, struggled to report the news of Donald Trump‘s inauguration during a live cross to Washington, DC.
‘Is tech the new frontier?’ Shirvo asked Penny Wong, who appeared at Trump’s inauguration on January 21 on behalf of Australia.
Matt attempted to summarise the gathering of global billionaire tech titans in the front row of the inauguration.
‘There’s the likes of Jess Bezos there,’ he says, referring to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, ‘and Elon Musk of course, is part of his… his team.’
Natalie Barr, 55, stared unflinchingly down the barrel of the camera as her co-host tripped over his words.
The TV veteran, who in 2024 admitted that replacing her longtime co-host David Koch with the former Olympian was a ‘gamble’, looked at him encouragingly.
‘He said he wants to plant the stars and stripes on planet Mars,’ Matt continued, paraphrasing one of the promises made in Trump’s victory speech.
‘What do you make of that?’ he concluded and looked to Wong for her answer, as a banner that read ‘Australia and U.S aligned’ ran along the bottom of the screen.
Wong diplomatically replied she’s ‘looking forward’ to working with President Donald Trump and called America ‘Australia’s greatest ally’.
Matt wasn’t the only Aussie TV presenter unable to get through Tuesday morning without an on-air whoopsie, as his Today show rival burst into giggles while interviewing former Australian politician Joe Hockey.
Karl Stefanovic and his co-host Sarah Abo were also chatting to the diplomat about Trump’s inauguration over on Channel Nine.
After discussing how the changes will impact Australia, Karl mentioned how some of the country’s richest attended the ceremony.
‘There were some heavy hitters in the room, that whole front row of billionaires,’ Karl said.
‘There is one photo doing the rounds of Lauren, Jeff Bezos’ fiancée. It’s going to be a different Washington DC, is it not?’
Joe laughed before responding: ‘Well there’s been a transition in Washington.
‘There is a lot of people with a lot of cosmetic surgery.’
Karl couldn’t contain himself as Sarah asked: ‘There is a lot to keep your eye on, isn’t there?’
‘It’s quite the transition and slightly confronting. There has definitely been a change in the guard,’ Joe admitted.
In a widely shared video on social media, Zuckerberg can be seen glancing down at Bezos’ girlfriend Lauren Sanchez, who wore a bold outfit which consisted of white lace lingerie, to the service.
The arrangement of global billionaire tech titans in front of Trump’s own cabinet picks at the inauguration has come came fire from Trump’s critics as a sign of the oligarchy he promised.
The ‘first buddy’ Elon Musk, Meta CEO Zuckerberg, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook, and Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, gathered together to symbolise the increasingly close relationship between the tech industry and the new American president.
