Sergeant Janelle Shoihet, from the RCMP of British Columbia, who was addressing a double homicide matter on Friday blamed “technical difficulties” for the error. She was giving a briefing about the double murders of American woman Chynna Noelle Deese, 24 and her Australian boyfriend Lucas Fowler, 23, whose bodies were found July 15 on a remote B.C. highway. In the original coverage on Friday, Shoihet is seen addressing the press conference with pointy pink ears, a kitty’s nose, and whiskers due to the cat filter. A reporter (Tyler Dawson) used Twitter to alert the police about the cat filter:
— Tyler Dawson (@tylerrdawson) July 19, 2019
— Mercedes Stephenson (@MercedesGlobal) July 19, 2019 Many reacted to the incident and took to Twitter to criticize the force. One took to the social networking site to write: “Honestly, devastated families are watching these clowns beclown themselves; they’re reliant on them to solve the murders.” Another said: “Someone at RCMP is missing a few brain cells.” A third posted: “Boy, this should bring comfort to the families. What a joke.” While a fourth stated: “This is something they should’ve checked when doing a presser on murder.” The BCRCMP later apologized over the gaff and said in a Twitter post: “Yes we are aware and addressing it as it’s an automatic setting. Thank you, we will rectify and issue a video shortly. The news conference was re-recorded without the cat filter and the new version was posted to Facebook on Friday.
Last month, a similar incident had occurred in Pakistan when a volunteer had accidentally activated the Facebook’s “cat filter” during live broadcasting of a press conference by Pakistani regional minister Shaukat Yousafzai. Please see our Facebook Live media availability in regards to the Northern Rockies double homicide. Update: Suspicious Death Investigation Continueshttps://northernrockies.bc.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=2130&languageId=1&contentId=60748 Posted by BC RCMP on Friday, 19 July 2019
