CBS made an embarrassing blunder after 60 Minutes depicted Canadian actress Kim Cattrall as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s mother.
On Sunday night, the program featured a profile on the Canadian leader, who is set to visit Washington in a week. While a reporter talked about Trudeau’s parents Pierre Elliot and Margaret, 60 Minutes accidentally included a black and white photo of a young Cattrall and misidentified her as Justin Trudeau’s mother.
In ’60 Minutes’ gaffe, actress Kim Cattrall depicted as Canadian PM’s mother https://t.co/VdgkTcL8Tx pic.twitter.com/DxBCFb1G6b
— Reuters Showbiz (@ReutersShowbiz) March 7, 2016
The photo, taken in 1981, shows Cattrall on a date with the late Prime Minister and Trudeau’s father, Pierre Elliot. The elder Trudeau dated high-profile celebrities such as Cattrall, Barbra Streisand, and Jane Fonda after his separation from his wife Margaret.
In a 1981 issue of Maclean’s, Kim Cattrall explained how she got a date with Pierre Trudeau: https://t.co/OU14LgASUH pic.twitter.com/qOlPvHf9tR
— Maclean’s Magazine (@MacleansMag) March 8, 2016
Cattrall just laughed good-humoredly at the program’s gaffe. The Canadian actress took to Twitter and posted a joke about being the Prime Minister’s mother : “I have a son who is the Prime Minister of Canada? I couldn’t be more proud.”
‘ @JustinTrudeau @SixtyMinutes I have a son who is the Prime Minister of Canada? I couldn’t b more proud. pic.twitter.com/pKguM9VH8J
— Kim Cattrall (@KimCattrall) March 7, 2016
Others were also quick to make fun of the program’s mistake. The Sex and the City actress retweeted CBC reporter John Bowman’s joke about the recent mix-up. Bowman “wondered” if the Prime Minister was half-Vulcan since Cattrall played a Vulcan in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
The program issued an apology on Monday. “We regret the error on one of the several videos and still images shown of Margaret Trudeau. It was corrected online last night,” a representative of 60 Minutes told The Hollywood Reporter.
The blunder occurred a week after the Canadian Prime Minister called on America to “have a little more of an awareness of what’s going on in the rest of the world.”
“A little more of an awareness of what’s going on in the rest of the world…is what many Canadians would hope for Americans”-@JustinTrudeau
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) March 7, 2016
The Prime Minister’s Office has yet to respond to a comment request by Reuters.