BBC Dad and His Family Finally Speak Out: 'It Was Terribly Cute'

The family of Professor Robert Kelly, whose children interrupted him while he was giving an interview to the BBC about the impeachment of South Korea’s President, is now speaking out about the video that made them a global viral sensation — and say they were overwhelmed by the attention.

The entire reason the children were able to get into the room where Kelly was giving the interview in the first place, he says, is because he simply forgot to lock the door to his office.

“Most of the time they come back to me after they find the locked door,” Kelly’s wife, Kim Jung-A, told the Wall Street Journal. “But they didn’t. And then I saw the door was open. It was chaos for me.”

“I made this minor mistake that turned my family into YouTube stars,” Kelly told the Wall Street Journal. “It’s pretty ridiculous.”

 

Immediately after the interview though, Kelly told the Wall Street Journal, he and his wife were concerned he would never be asked to appear on the BBC again. He even emailed the channel an apology, but the broadcaster just responded and asked if they could post the clip with the children on the internet. They initially declined, but ultimately decided to give consent.

After they did so, however, they were overwhelmed; at one point, Mr. Kelly said he had to put his phone on airplane mode.

“We stonewalled because we didn’t know what to do,” he said.

The couple also did not reprimand the children for interrupting their father’s interview.

“I mean it was terribly cute,” Kelly said. “Yes I was mortified, but I also want my kids to feel comfortable coming to me.”

Write to Alana Abramson at Alana.Abramson@time.com.