Talk about must-see TV. In
Jordan, a furious TV debate turned into a YouTube moment when a member
of parliament threw a shoe and pulled a gun on his rival.
The scene has been replayed on
the Web more than 110,000 times, and counting. Luckily, nobody was hurt,
although the gun-drawing parliamentarian, identified by the Times of Israel as Mohammed Shawabka, could face attempted murder charges from the political activist named Mansour Sayf al-Din Murad.
The video clip shows the two
arguing about Jordan's policies toward the uprising in Syria. The two
begin to shout as the TV host, sitting between them, tries to keep them
calm, and fails.
The two men discussed aspects of Jordanian politics including attitudes surrounding the uprising in Syria.The debate became increasingly heated and personal, and each of the men accused the other of various crimes and deviances. Shawabka claimed Murad was in the pay of the Syrian regime. Murad countered that Shawabka worked for the Israeli Mossad intelligence agency. "You're a Mossad agent," he said. "You're a big crook," came the response.
You don't need to know the
language to see what happens next. The MP, told to calm down, instead
removes his shoe and flings it as an insult at Murad, who ducks behind
his desk, knocking it over. Then the MP pulls out a gun from his
waistband and points it at Murad. The TV host jumps between the two men
to try to stop the fight.
While the MP points his gun down
and eventually tucks it back into his waistband, the two continue to
tussle, the host between them, until eventually someone cuts to credits.
Al Arabiya reports
that the parliamentarian justified his actions by saying that Murad
called members of the Jordanian government "corrupt parasites" and then
insulted his father. Murad, according to the Los Angeles Times, reportedly plans to file charges against the member of parliament.
Twitter erupted
over the video with comments from around the globe like this from
Mosa'ab Elshamy,"Because throwing a shoe at the opponent isn't enough
anymore."
Victoria Kim added, "And I thought Korean politicians couldn't be topped."
Pablo V. wondered, "How you throw a shoe then pull out a roscoe on live television AND you're a member of parliament?"
This is not the first time a TV debate has turned into a brawl. In Greece last month, a fight broke out
on a morning talk show, when the spokesman of the extreme-right party
threw water at a woman from the left-wing party, then smacked another
woman across the face.