Donald Trump broke major protocol during controversial UN speech where he took aim at several countries

Donald Trump broke a major rule during his speech to the United Nations General Assembly yesterday (Tuesday 23 September).

The United States President, 79, was visiting the UN headquarters for the first time since his second term began in January, and was accompanied by First Lady, Melania, 55.

Despite getting off to a bit of a rocky start that involved a broken teleprompter and escalator, he didn't hold back when delivering remarks to the room.

He even laid into his hosts, accusing the UN of not helping him when he 'personally end seven wars', and questioned the organisation's purpose.

Turning his attention to other nation's immigration policies, Trump told the room: "When your prisons are filled with so-called asylum seekers who repay kindness with crime, it's time to end the failed experiment of open borders.

"You have to end it now - I can tell you. I’m really good at this stuff. Your countries are going to hell.”

Donald Trump broke protocol during his speech at UN headquarters yesterday (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Once we started detaining and deporting everyone who crossed the border, and removing illegal aliens from the United States, they simply stopped coming."

However, it wasn't actually the content of the blistering speech, or 'roast' as some people are calling it, that was against the rules - it was how long he was speaking for.

Like all other speakers, he had likely been asked to confine his remarks to 15 minutes, however, the US president continued on for 40 more, with his speech totalling 55 minutes.

One Twitter user wrote: "Trump's already over his 15 mins, and he isn't close to being finished," before later adding: "His went 55 mins. 40 minutes over the time limit."

And people have a hilarious theory on why he did it.

Some social media users think that the Republican leader did it on purpose because the teleprompter provided by the UN wasn't working.

So, without his prepared speech to go off, he simply had to improvise and got just a tiny bit carried away.

One person joked: "They should have turned on the teleprompter to keep him on track."

His speech went on for a whopping 55 minutes - 50 minutes longer than his allocated slot (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

While others added: "That's what they get for cutting his teleprompter", and, "Should have left the teleprompter alone."

"They'll never screw with his escalator and teleprompter again," joked someone else.

Another commented: "Hahahahahaha I love this! I mean they deserved it after the escalator & teleprompter 'malfunctions'".

If you're not sure what we're talking about, just moments before Trump was about to speak, he announced that the teleprompter wasn't working.

Before his speech, he said: "I don't mind making this speech without a teleprompter - because the teleprompter is not working. I feel very happy to be up here with you nevertheless and that way you speak more from the heart."

He then joked: "I can only say that whoever is operating this teleprompter is in big trouble."

This, paired with the escalator breaking down the moment he and Melania stepped on it, has sparked a widespread conspiracy theory that the United Nations were messing with him on purpose - something they have denied and simply put it down to a technical errors.