The spokesperson of the US State Department, Mathew Miller, had an amusing encounter during a press briefing recently when he spotted a large cockroach above a journalist. He had to interrupt his speech to alert the journalist, which resulted in laughter from the audience, including himself.
According to reports from the New York Post, during a press briefing on June 20th, Miller jokingly told the Associated Press reporter, Matt Lee, “I have to pause. There is a big cockroach on the wall above you.”
Miller then reminded everyone that insecticides cannot be used during the briefing. He humorously added, “Sorry for the distraction, but that cockroach is quite big.”
In response, Lee asked, “Should I go catch it now?” Miller suggested that he wait until after he finished discussing the Hezbollah launching a series of cross-border attacks on Israel.
Shortly after, Miller acknowledged that he shouldn’t have brought up the cockroach incident as it made it difficult for the audience to focus on the important message he was conveying.
Reporter John Hudson from The Washington Post took to the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) to share that a sound engineer from the State Department quickly took care of the pest issue a few minutes later.
From the live feed, a loud sound was heard, and Miller announced, “Problem solved.”
The Hill reported a similar incident that occurred approximately five years ago when a mouse dropped from the ceiling of the White House press briefing room, landing on a journalist’s knee, causing panic among the reporters present. The mouse then scurried into the office area.