Ukip Scotland admits leaders' debate Periscope prank was 'quite funny'
Scotland's Ukip party leader David Coburn has conceded that a prank orchestrated by Twitter trolls during a Periscope livestream he was broadcasting alongside an STV Scottish leaders' debate was "quite funny".
In protest at not being invited on the televised discussion ahead of Scotland's Holyrood elections, Coburn decided to host his own real-time Periscope stream via his smartphone at the same time.
The MEP's stunt experienced some technical sound issues, which were swiftly resolved, however viewers continued to claim they couldn't hear Coburn via the comments section on the livestream, even though he was fully audible.
Able to see posts such as 'mic isn't working pal' and 'can't hear you' on his screen the politician became increasingly flustered, pronouncing his followers "gremlins" and requesting someone "prod" his assistant to fix the issue.
"We're trying to get this to work, it's new technology," he insisted, "the geeks are at it."
Speaking to BuzzFeed reporter Jamie Ross during the prank, the Ukip said the stream "got bent."
I asked Coburn what went wrong with his misfiring Periscope. pic.twitter.com/FWvG5IJcHR
— Jamie Ross (@JamieRoss7) March 29, 2016
Coburn told BBC's Newsbeat: "It was quite a funny prank really.
"It's never a bad thing for the public to see that their politicians are actually human and can fall victim to pranks," he added saying he had no regrets over the broadcast.
The full stream can be watched here.