A video of two children storming into the room while the BBC was interviewing their father, which turned viral and amused thousands, has sparked a different debate on social media. Was it the mother or the nanny who burst into the room and pulled the children out?

Comments on Twitter and Facebook showed general anger over why initial media reports and others had assumed that the woman was the hired help. But was she?

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Actually, no. The woman in question was Kim Jung-a, the wife of Prof Robert Kelly, the man who was being interviewed on live TV.

The video, funny though it was, has sparked a fierce debate on systemic racism and stereotyping.

"Are we really still, in 2017, openly stereotyping?" Jen McQuire asked on Romper.com.

"Seeing an Asian woman in a white man's house with kids and telling ourselves: 'Yep, that's the nanny, Now, let's send out a bunch of tweets to call her the nanny like it's a fact."

The Guardian noted that social media speculation on the identify of the woman continued, with statements posted saying that she looked scared and was afraid of losing her job - despite the fact that a tweet posted by Kelly in 2012 showed him and her at a polling station in South Korea.

Viewers in South Korea would not have mistaken the woman's identity as the older child appears to be saying, "Mummy, why?"

Phil Yu, a blogger, told the Los Angeles Times: "There are stereotypes of Asian women as servile, as passive, as fulfilling some kind of service role. People were quick to make that assumption."

Similarly, Helier Cheung, wrote: "Many people feel the assumption that Ms Kim was a helper, rather than the children's mother, was grounded in racial stereotypes about the roles played by Asian women."

Hurtful assumptions

Cheung noted that while she was at a university in London, many people assumed that she was studying either medicine or economics just because she was a British Chinese student. She was in fact studying English literature.

"It was a little annoying, but not a huge deal. But sometimes assumptions can be more hurtful," she said.

Kelly's mother, Ellen, who lives near Cleveland, Ohio, believes the eldest child, Marion, four, and James, nine months, thought their father was on a video call to their grandparents.

"Robert usually Skypes us from his home office, which is where he did the interview. The kids probably heard voices coming from the computer and assumed it was us. It was just hilarious," she told the Daily Mail.

The 72-year-old grandmother said: "I just hope he gains recognition for his expertise rather than for this - as great as it all is.

"Life happens. The lesson is to lock the door."