The BBC has bowed to a torrent of stress from Jewish staffers and teams by slicing scenes of an Apprentice contestant from the You’re Fired companion present following antisemitic tweets.
Controversial contestant Dr Asif Munaf‘s scenes are understood to have been recorded over the weekend however is not going to be proven on the upcoming companion present.
BBC staffers are stated to have been “shocked” by the choice to have filmed the scenes. A Telegraph report final month revealed that Munaf had been given variety coaching after making antisemitic posts on social media together with writing that Zionists are a “godless satanic cult” and references to the “trial of the zionist antichrist.”
At the time, a BBC supply informed The Telegraph, “had this content been posted before filming took place, Asif would not have been included in the show.”
Yet Munaf has continued to tweet because the present has been airing, referencing “ziotrolls” in a tweet on February 1, the day after the Telegraph article got here out, a lot to the chagrin of BBC staffers who had been left in disbelief that the You’re Fired scenes had been filmed over the weekend.
“We can confirm that the individual concerned will not feature as a guest on any additional upcoming BBC content relating to The Apprentice,” stated a spokesman. Hosted by Tom Allen, You’re Fired airs instantly after The Apprentice on BBC Two and options interviews with the ‘fired’ contestants.
Jewish staffers angered
Munaf, an NHS physician who as soon as appeared on the BBC’s Dragon’s Den, is not going to be showing on the BBC any time quickly however for some present and former Jewish staffers the harm is finished.
“I’m stunned,” stated one. “It’s got to the situation where [management] are trying to get through the issue, not dealing with the issue, and I don’t think it will pass anytime soon.”
There is explicit frustration with BBC content material boss Charlotte Moore over the way in which through which the Munaf state of affairs has been handled, Deadline is informed. After Hamas’ October 7 assault, Moore was made the BBC Board’s antisemitism consultant, and but insiders really feel she has been far too sluggish to get a lid on the Munaf debacle.
Zone of Interest producer Danny Cohen, who used to go up programing for the BBC and now runs Access Entertainment, informed Deadline: “I would advise BBC managers to stop telling Jewish employees what is and isn’t antisemitism. This simply would not happen if the issue involved racism against any other minority community.”
Cohen added that it’s “hard to believe that the BBC recorded a programme this week featuring a man with indisputably racist views.”
Jewish teams such because the Board of Deputies of British Jews have additionally slammed the BBC’s dealing with of the state of affairs, with President Marie van der Zyl writing to Director General Tim Davie and incoming chair Samir Shah urging them to cease platforming Munaf and to apologize for its “mishandling of the situation.”
“Asif Munaf has repeatedly used antisemitic invective,” she stated. “When this originally came to light, he initially claimed remorse, only to flagrantly repeat the offence.”
Munaf was nonetheless showing on the present within the week that Deadline revealed a senior BBC scheduler was dealing with disciplinary motion for a string of antisemitic Facebook posts through which she referred to the “holohoax” and peddled excessive conspiracy theories. The staffer, Dawn Queva, has since left the BBC.
Deadline has reached out to Munaf for remark.