Olly Murs found himself blocked by Louise Minchin on Twitter moments before going live on BBC Breakfast with the broadcaster.
The singer, 34, was on the show to promote his new album when Minchin realised she had blocked him, claiming it was a “slip of the keyboard”.
She tweeted: “Oops I just realised that I blocked @ollyofficial on @Twitter #SorryOlly it must have been a slip of the keyboard honest!! #bbcbreakfast #hownottokeepguestshappy.”
Murs replied: “This is awkward.”
Minutes later he joined Minchin and Dan Walker on the sofa. He said: “Awkward. Dan I love you. Love you.
“I stopped watching when I found out Louise has blocked me on Twitter. You had to click on something and block me. It must be something I said. We’ll get to the bottom of this.”
Attempting to defend herself Minchin said: “I was trying to find you to say you’re coming on and I thought ‘why can’t I find Olly’. It’s great to have you here.”
Viewers struggled to believe Minchin’s excuse, with one tweeting: “That old chestnut.”
Another wrote: “That’s up there with ‘I didn’t get your text / email’.”
A third joked: “Louise, how could you! Well, I'm shocked!”
Murs dropped his sixth album You Know I Know on Friday after a two year wait. The Troublemaker singer, who found fame on The X Factor, said he tried to ignore critics who take aim at his reality TV background.
“My aim was always to keep going after the first year or two and I was on this wave – the fans were loving it,” he said. “I’ve been riding the wave for nine or ten years now. I’ve done all these other great things.”
Murs teamed up with Ed Sheeran and Snoop Dogg on new song Moves, joking the US rapper cost him a fortune.
“The bank balance is dented man,” he said. “We sent him the song and he came back and said he loved it. I’m working hard to pay him back.”
BBC Breakfast is on BBC One, weekdays at 6am
