Q&A just can't catch a break.

Oops.

Can you hear that? It’s the sound of Q&A staff squirming in their seats after yet another scandal.

During last night’s episode, hosted by Virginia Trioli and featuring guests including publisher Louise Adler, journalist Annabel Crabb, former QLD Premier Anna Bligh and ex-ministers Peter Reith and Tony Windsor, a tweet was aired, and now people are talking about it. And not for a good reason.

The offending tweet? “I prefer ones twitter feed to their biographies (sic)”, accompanied by the handle “AbbottlovesAnal”.

Facepalm.

Lindsay federal Liberal MP Fiona Scott took a screen grab of the tweet and was quick to criticise the program on Twitter.

But if that wasn’t awkward enough for the ABC, it turns out the account holder is a friend of Zaky Mallah, whose comments about Australian Muslims joining Islamic State caused outrage in a June Q&A episode.

Q&A is still dealing with the fallout from the Mallah controversy, which saw the ABC accused of sympathising with terrorism and resulting in the government calling for an enquiry into the show.

Last night’s tweet is the very last thing the show or the station needed. And while many can see the funny side of the tweet, others are wondering how it ever got aired in the first place.

In fact, Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull personally called ABC Managing Director Mark Scott demanding an apology for airing the tweet – and to the ABC’s credit, the station did formally apologise to the PM.

But whether you like him or loathe him, Tony Abbott is still our prime minister – and giving air time to immature pranksters?

Not cool.

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