Richard Gere was given a stern talking to after eliminating Savannah Guthrie at the start of his interview on the Today show.
Just one day after legendary singer Cher dropped an F-bomb on the NBC show, chaos ensued again on the network – this time with the Pretty Woman actor, 75, wreaking havoc with an ‘obscene’ gesture .
The program quickly went off the rails when the show aired a segment starring Richard in his new political thriller, The Agency.
However, producers cut the scene before the A-lister character Bosko gave the middle finger, so Richard took matters into his own hands and reenacted the moment live in Studio 1A.
As Savannah introduced him to viewers, Richard put her pride down, leaving her completely shocked.
Richard defended the move, saying, “Sorry, but I did that in the play.”
A stunned Savannah immediately tried to hide Richard’s hand with her script, declaring that she was “bleeping” him.
“You just made an obscene gesture on this family morning show,” she said.
Richard Gere eliminated Savannah Guthrie at the beginning of his interview on the Today show
The A-lister’s interview quickly went off the rails when a clip of him starring in his new political thriller, The Agency, aired.
“You know Cher was here making an F-bomb yesterday, so I don’t know what’s going on.”
“No, no, no, no, no,” Richard interjected, clarifying that his gesture was merely a reenactment of the clip the show had previewed.
“That was the clip, but we cut that part out,” Savannah snapped.
“I could see that, but without it there was no point,” Richard continued.
At this point, Savannah started to save the chat and get the interview back on track.
“So that was the first time you saw that?” she asked, referring to the clip.
“I didn’t see anything, no,” her guest responded. “This is the first one I see.”
Savannah wondered, “Why is that?
Savannah was not amused and scolded Richard’s “obscene gesture.”
“You know Cher was here making an F-bomb yesterday, so I don’t know what’s happening,” she said.
Savannah desperately tried to cover Richard’s hand with her script to prevent him from doing the move again
“Because you’re going to the premiere tomorrow night, but you don’t like looking at your work?”
Richard replied, “I don’t like looking in the mirror, to tell you the truth.
“I don’t like myself that much.”
Richard stars opposite Michael Fassbender and Jodie Turner-Smith in the new Paramount Plus thriller, produced by George Clooney and Grant Heslov.
Scheduled for release on November 29, the show is set within the department responsible for training and dealing with deep-cover agents on long-term missions living under false identities for years, with the aim of identifying and recruiting intelligence sources.
“It’s amazing,” Richard said of the series. “We shot it like a movie.”