PTV 'accidentally' trolls Imran Khan with an offensive typo

Typos happen to the best of us but some spelling mistakes are more forgivable than others.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, who left for his first official visit to China on Thursday, has become the target of some "accidental trolling" — at the hands of a state-run entity at that.

During the live telecast of his address at the Central Party School (of the Communist Party of China) on PTV, his location was misspelled from Beijing as — wait for it — begging.

The faux pas is particularly scathing since Khan is looking to secure support from China to overcome massive economic hurdles in the country. The typo reportedly remained onscreen for a good 20 seconds or so before it was rectified. However, in the world of screenshots, that's 20 seconds too many.

The incident provoked all kinds of reactions from people on Twitter, from some calling the act "disgraceful" to others lauding PTV for becoming "drastically independent":

The broadcaster has apologised via Twitter saying “Today, during a live address of the Prime Minister during his ongoing visit to China, a typographical error took place, which remained on screen for 20 seconds and later removed. This incident is regrettable. Strict action has been initiated under rules against concerned officials”.

Apparently two staff members have also been laid off following the error:

Whether the error was a typo or a sinister prank, we can only guess.