On Thursday (April 25), during the BBC’s coverage of the tournament, an incident was broadcast. The afternoon session at the Crucible was temporarily interrupted and the BBC’s punditry panel were discussing the day’s action in their outside studio. Seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry was giving his thoughts at the Winter Gardens in Sheffield. However, viewers became distracted by a crowd of fans gathered behind them, who were in the camera shot.
A boy was seen waving and a man was smiling and moving his head from left to right. A clip of this incident began circulating on social media and was viewed millions of times in the following 24 hours. Concerns about the nature of the incident led to reports being made to the South Yorkshire Police, prompting them to review the footage. The World Snooker Tour acknowledged the clip, stating that it was now a police matter.
Surprisingly, the incident went undetected at the time, with the punditry panel carrying on as normal during their analysis. Subsequently, the man was seen recording them on his phone.
