has divided viewers after he was caught on camera performing a rude hand gesture live on-air in front of a TV presenter.
left fans less than impressed after flashing his middle finger in the face of a show host while promoting his new series.
Appearing on the early morning US programme, The Today Show, the film star was advertising his brand-new Paramount+ series The Agency. But things took a turn for the worst moments into his segment.
Straight after a trailer played during Richard’s interview with anchor Samantha Guthrie, as Guthrie was about to introduce , he flipped the bird right in her face, leaving the presenter visibly startled and noticeably confused.
“You just did an obscene gesture on this family morning show,” she told him. “I’m bleeping you,” Samantha was heard explaining.
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Richard Gere was promoting his new Paramount series The Agency. (Image: NBC / The Today Show)
In a bid to clear the air, Richard told the host: “You didn’t show but that’s what I did in the piece. That’s what the clip was.” The actor explained he was simply recreating a scene from the trailer that had been removed, in which he would have flipped the bird.
“That’s what the clip was, but we cut that part out,” Samantha clarified. “But then you did it live.” Richard admitted it now “didn’t make any sense”.
Fans flocked to X, formally Twitter, after the awkward ordeal played out live. One user penned: “[Richard] he does what he wants, he gets what he wants (similar to a character he played).
Another added: “Savannah always gets so giddy with celebrities that it’s just cringeworthy” as a third echoed: “Richard Gere is all of us, I can’t stand Savannah Guthrie.”
Meanwhile, a fourth chimed in with: “I’m pretty sure that anyone who is old enough to sit in front of a TV or computer screen and understands English has never seen that hand gesture. For shame..!!”
Host Samantha Guthrie wasn’t sure about what had just happened (Image: NBC / The Today Show)
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Calling a set up, another commented: “He is strategically parallel to the camera shot, she finds it funny and readily pushes her papers over the hand while the camera shot cuts away- this was a planned stunt …”
It comes after shared the real reason why it’s unlikely he and will star in the same movie again. Julia and Richard famously and 1999’s Runaway Bride.
Both movies were directed by the late star Garry Marshall, who also wrote and produced several major titles. The film executive died aged 81 in 2016, and Richard made it clear that he couldn’t see a reunion without Garry’s input.
During an interview at the Cannes Film Festival, he explained: “Garry was the glue of all of that. It couldn’t be done without Garry. That was lightning in a bottle; you can’t make that happen again.“
Richard added to : “If that was easy and you can do it again, the computer would do it. It was a moment in all of our lives. She can’t be in that same place then, I can’t be in that place. We don’t have Garry to hold it all together, his lightness, sense of humor, and romanticism.”