
A politician in Mexico decided to sneak out of a Zoom meeting by using a photograph of herself as background. However, for Mexico City congresswoman Valentina Batres Guadarrama, the trick failed to work.
In a video, which has now gone viral on several social media platforms, the congresswoman can be seen switching on Zoom’s virtual background function to simulate her presence in the online Congress session.
Mexican lawyer Jorge Gaviño Ambriz tweeted the video of the congresswoman along with a caption that read, “And I thought that you were paying a lot of attention to my speech when I realised that that attentive look was a photograph.”
Watch the video here:
Diputada @valentinabtg: y yo pensando que usted le estaba poniendo mucha atención a mi discurso, cuando me di cuenta que esa mirada atenta era una fotografía. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/AqjsMD9HBo
— Jorge Gaviño (@jorgegavino) September 19, 2020
Since being shared online, the video has gone viral on several social media platforms and prompted several reactions among netizens. While some were amused by the clip, others called out the congresswoman for lack of professionalism.
However, in her defence, Guadarrama took to Twitter to explain her side of the story. Guadarrama said she was present at the meeting but had to step away to take technical help from relatives. “My lack of knowledge of digital tools made me make a mistake. I put up a wallpaper that showed my frozen image. I stopped for a second to request technical help at home,” read the statement posted on her social media account.
A la opinión pública pic.twitter.com/3tZxJzEv8B
— Valentina Batres (@valentinabtg) September 22, 2020