New York: President Donald Trump’s visit to the United Nations was marked by a series of technical glitches, including a stalled escalator and a malfunctioning teleprompter. Videos of these incidents quickly went viral on social media, showing Trump openly addressing the problems during his speech and jokingly warning the teleprompter operator that they were “in big trouble.”

Trump used the opportunity to criticise the UN, describing it as dysfunctional. “All I got from the United Nations was an escalator that on the way up stopped right in the middle,” he said, making a hand gesture to emphasise his point.

What really happened

UN officials said the escalator stopped because a videographer from the US delegation accidentally triggered a safety mechanism. Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, explained that this safety feature stops the escalator if something might get caught in the gears.

Trump also mentioned that the teleprompter wasn’t working properly and joked about the person controlling it. A UN official, speaking anonymously, said the White House staff was in charge of operating the teleprompter during the speech.

Meanwhile, the White House has called for an investigation to determine whether the escalator and teleprompter issues were deliberate attempts to embarrass President Trump.

Jokes and financial problems at the UN

The call for an investigation came after a report by The Times said UN staff had joked about turning off escalators and elevators when Trump arrived, saying they would tell him the organisation had “run out of money.”

Technical problems like these are not unusual at the UN. Recently, escalators and elevators in New York and Geneva have been turned off at times to save money because of a financial crisis at the organisation. This crisis is partly due to delayed payments from the United States, the UN’s largest donor.