‘You Cannot Be Here!’ NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell Confronts South Korean Press Crowding Aisle Before BTS Briefing in Now-Deleted Video

NBC News White House correspondent Kelly O’Donnell confronted South Korean journalists prior to a briefing room appearance by global pop sensation BTS over their placement of cameras in the room in a video that was tweeted by a C-SPAN staffer — and later deleted.

The members of the group were guests of White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at Tuesday’s White House briefing, where they each marked the end of  Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month by speaking about anti-Asian hate crimes.

But before that briefing, C-SPAN cameras captured a confrontation between O’Donnell and journalists who said they were part of the South Korean press pool. In the clip, O’Donnell — who is a member of the Board of the White House Correspondents Association — wades into a dispute over the placement of equipment.

The South Korean journalist tells a man that she believes her crew has permission from the White House to set up in the stage-right aisle of the briefing room, but he explains that only pool cameras and tripods are permitted.

“You cannot be here! Cannot be here!” O’Donnell says, crossing into the frame and across to where the discussion is happening.

The South Korean woman again says she believes that she’s been given permission by the White House.

“They don’t, they don’t control this room, actually,” O’Donnell interrupted.

The woman says something inaudible, and O’Donnell says “Uh, no. We have for more than a year been working with Covid restrictions, fire standards, and so forth. And this room is only pool, and there are no tripods in the aisles. We know there’s enormous interest today, but you’re breaking the rules we’ve all lived under for more than a year.”

The woman asks O’Donnell if she could please check again if her team can be there, and O’Donnell says “Journalists here is fine. We’re saying you can’t have tripods in the aisles, and we are pool only. These are the restrictions we work with every day. This is where we work every day.

“Yeah, but just can you check one more time?” the woman asks, and her colleague says “Thank you.”

“They don’t control the room. We control the room,” O’Donnell says, adding “So it’s not their decision.”

The video was tweeted by C-SPAN Specialist for Digital and Social Media Jeremy Art, but was deleted about an hour later without explanation. The tweet had collected only a small handful of replies, several of which were critical of O’Donnell.

Watch above via C-SPAN and Mediaite