Here's the Story Behind the Viral 'BBC Dad' Video

Robert Kelly, aka "BBC dad," speaks out about the viral video that made his family an international sensation.

There are plenty of arguments against parenthood: Kids are typically messy, disobedient, demonstrably dumb, and hard on the bank account; however, children can do some really cool things every once in a while—like launch your family into internet fame.

This is exactly what happened with Professor Robert E. Kelly’s family last week.

During a live Skype interview on the BBC Friday, Kelly was speaking to journalist James Menendez about the recent impeachment of South Korea’s president. Everything was going as planned, until Kelly’s two children—4-year-old daughter Marion and 8-month-old son James—hilariously crashed the broadcast. The interview has since gone viral, putting Kelly and his family into the international spotlight.

Less than week after the infamous interview, Kelly—widely referred to as “BBC dad”—has come forward with his wife, Kim Jung-A, to speak about the infamous video.

“Well, it was sort of a mixture of surprise, embarrassment, and amusement, and love and affection. I mean it was terribly cute,” Kelly told the Wall Street Journal. “I saw the video like everybody else did as really funny.”

Kelly’s family was reportedly in the living room watching the broadcast live. Kim was recording the TV screen with her phone, and apparently became too distracted with the interview that she didn’t notice her two children wander to Kelly’s office. Kim said there was a short delay in the live broadcast, which is why she didn’t immediately realize her kids were in the shot.

BBC dad said he took full responsibility for the interruption, as he forgot to lock the door.

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The clip was eventually posted on BBC’s social media platforms, and has garnered more than 16 million views on YouTube and 21 million views on Facebook as of Tuesday night. The couple said they were initially hesitant to allow BBC to post the clip online, but were later convinced the video would show them as “a regular family.”

Hours after the clip went up, the Kellys were bombarded with phone calls, emails, and social media notifications. At one point, Kelly said he had to put his phone on airplane mode because he was so overwhelmed by the reaction.

“We stonewalled because we didn’t know what to do,” he said.

The couple said they were not mad at the children, and did not reprimand them. Kelly told the WSJ he was “mortified” by the interruption but wants his kids to always feel comfortable approaching him.

“I made this minor mistake that turned my family into YouTube stars,” he said. “It’s pretty ridiculous.”

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