BBC Grovels To Trump After Getting Caught Doctoring His Speech

The BBC on Thursday apologized to President Donald Trump for a Panorama documentary that stitched parts of his Jan. 6, 2021, speech together in a way that suggested he advocated violence, but the broadcaster rejected his demand for damages and said it won’t re-air the program.

In a statement, BBC chair Samir Shah said he had sent a personal letter to the White House conveying the apology and confirmed the film won’t be shown again on any BBC platform. Trump has threatened a $1 billion lawsuit unless the BBC retracts, apologizes and compensates him. (RELATED: BBC’s Arabic Outlet Reportedly Made 100 Mistakes Each Year About Gaza War)

“While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim,” the corporation said.

The apology follows a week of turmoil at the British broadcaster. Director General Tim Davie and BBC News chief Deborah Turness resigned Sunday amid a wider row over editorial standards triggered by a leaked memo and the Panorama edit; both departures were announced ahead of Thursday’s statement, according to Reuters.

In its fuller explanation, the BBC acknowledged the sequence “showed excerpts taken from different parts of the speech” and “unintentionally created the impression” of a single continuous passage that amounted to “a direct call for violent action,” ITV reported.

The row deepened Thursday as a second instance surfaced: a June 2022 Newsnight segment that, according to the Telegraph’s reporting, also presented spliced lines from the same Trump speech. The BBC told ITV it “holds itself to the highest editorial standards” and is looking into the matter.

Trump’s legal team had demanded the BBC withdraw the documentary, apologize and pay compensation; the corporation’s lawyers replied this week, disputing any legal basis for defamation and noting the film will not be rebroadcast “in this form.”

The BBC’s position is that the edit was an error but not defamatory, and that Shah’s apology was conveyed directly to the White House. The agency also noted Trump has not yet filed suit.

The disputed Panorama sequence combined Trump lines “we’re going to walk down to the Capitol” and “we fight like hell,” which were delivered more than 50 minutes apart, creating a misleading juxtaposition at the heart of the controversy, ITV reported.