TV host Rita Panahi ditched on-air decorum for an acid-tongued farewell Sunday to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranian leader who was killed in a U.S.-Israeli attack. (Watch the video below right at the beginning.)
The host promised Sky News Australia viewers the “shortest editorial I’ll ever deliver” and soon switched to Persian to offer a personal message to the deceased “dictator.”
“You son of a bitch, shame on you, burn in hell!” she said in roughly translated Farsi.
“Outsiders” colleague Rowan Dean chimed in, “Couldn’t have put it better myself, Rita.”
Panahi later doubled down on her remarks by writing on a reposting of her viral moment, “I should’ve added a ‘bisharaf’ in there too.” That means dishonorable or shameless.
The conservative Panahi was born in Arkansas and later “escaped” Iran as a child, Sky News wrote. She has spoken out against the Islamic Republic and the way it treats women, according to news.com.au. She has also condemned Islamic extremism.
While Panahi joined many in rebuking Khamenei’s leadership, the attack has come under criticism for stoking a wider conflict and perhaps entrenching the U.S. in a prolonged fight.