Richard Gere flips Savannah Guthrie the bird during a live interview on “Today” when she tells him, ‘I’m bleeding you!’

“My hand did it, I have no control!” the actor later explained

First Chernow Richard Gere!

A day after the legendary singer dropped the F-word during a live chat with Hoda Kotb on Today shows, Gere visited NBC’s morning news program on Wednesday, November 20 and started his interview with Savannah Guthrie by flipping her the bird.

“You just made an obscene gesture on this family morning show!” a shocked Guthrie said to Gere, holding up a stack of papers to hide his hand. “I’m pissing you!”

“You know, Cher was here and made an F-bomb yesterday, so I don’t know what’s going on!” she joked.

Related: Cher drops the F-bomb live on Today As she talks about advice she got from Lucille Ball: “You said you were going to blow it!”

Related: Michael Fassbender risks his life for freedom and love with Richard Gere and Jodie Turner-Smith in The agency Trailer

So what made Gere raise his middle finger? It turns out he was just finishing a scene from his new espionage thriller, The agency. Today had shown a clip from the Paramount+/Showtime 10-episode series to set up the Gere segment, but had cut the scene just before Gere’s character made the gesture.

“You didn’t show, but that’s what I did in the play!” Gere explained. “That’s what the clip was!”

“That’s what the clip was, but we cut that part out. But then you did it live!” Guthrie said.

“I could see it, but it made no sense without it!” he noted, later insisting the move was not intended. “My hand did it, I have no control!”

Based on a French series called Bureau, The agency takes place in the CIA’s London office and follows an undercover CIA agent (played by Michael Fassbender), who has to face reality after he is forced to give up his undercover life. The series also features Jeffrey Wright, Katherine Waterston, Jodie Turner-Smith, Dominic West, Hugh Bonneville and more.

Gere had been watching Bureau with his wife, Alejandra Silvawhich made signing up for the American adaptation that much more enticing when he was approached. The show is the first time the actor has ever appeared in a TV series.

“It’s very well written… it’s amazing,” Gere continued Today. “I mean, they’re all wonderful. and we shot it like a movie. We do it the same way. Movie directors, movie actors, the schedule is like a movie schedule. It feels the same to me.”

The agency streams November 29 on Paramount+/Showtime. Today airs weekdays on NBC (beginning at 7:00 a.m. ET).