BP chief executive Tony Hayward faced a relentless slating at the hands of US politicians during a confrontation over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill yesterday.
During a fiery session of the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, Mr Hayward was accused of ignoring safety warnings, attempting to shirk responsibility and presiding over "astonishing" corporate complacency.
And his ordeal was not only at the hands of elected representatives.
As he prepared to give testimony, a protester daubed in what appeared to be black paint to resemble oil shouted: "You need to go to jail."
She was promptly ejected from the chamber.
Mr Hayward's appearance on Capitol Hill came less than 24 hours after BP announced it was to set up a $20 billion (€16 billion) compensation fund and scrap shareholder dividends until the end of the year.
But despite this and a fulsome apology, the BP man received a predicted mauling at the hands of committee members.
The under-fire chief executive officer endured more than an hour-and-a-half of attack in silence before he was given the opportunity to testify.
During that time, a succession of committee members lambasted both him and his company.
Henry Waxman, Democrat chairman of the committee, accused Mr Hayward of not paying "even the slightest attention to the dangers" at Deepwater Horizon.
This was despite the oil firm's drilling engineer warning that it was a "nightmare" rig just days before the April 20 accident which killed 11 and led to the region's worst ever environmental disaster.
"BP's corporate complacency is astonishing," Mr Waxman added.
Pennsylvanian Congressman Mike Doyle accused BP of "bad judgment at best and criminal negligence at worst".
He described the $20 billion clean-up fund as "just the tip of the iceberg".
There was, however, some criticism of President Barack Obama's administration for strong-arming BP into Wednesday's announcement.
Republican representative Joe Barton said it amounted to a "$20 billion shakedown" by the White House.
Most committee members, however, were content to focus their criticism solely on BP.
Vermont representative Peter Welch reeled off a list of safety failings at the oil giant in the years leading up to the Deepwater Horizon blast.
"For 59 days, BP has told the American people that this was an aberration. It is not an aberration - for BP this is business as usual.