A BBC podcast host has revealed she was banned from saying ‘oh my god’ on her show and wasn’t able to refer to herself as ‘queer’ in a video filmed for the broadcaster, adding that the Corporation only cares about ‘not seeming offensive to old white people’.
Comedian Sofie Hagen, 31, who is originally from Denmark but lives in London, hosts the Bad People podcast which dissects criminal cases.
She has also hosted Radio 4 specials and starred in videos for the broadcaster.
In a Twitter thread on Saturday, she said ‘it’s very clear where the BBC’s priorities lie’ and accused the corporation of racism.
It comes as the BBC finally apologised nearly two weeks after a white presenter said ‘n****r’ in a news report, which saw more than 18,000 people complain.
Comedian Sofie Hagen, 31, who is originally from Denmark but lives in London, hosts the Bad People podcast which dissects criminal cases. In a Twitter thread on Saturday, she said ‘it’s very clear where the BBC’s priorities lie’ and accused the Corporation of racism
The BBC was slammed after social affairs correspondent Fiona Lamdin said the highly-offensive term while covering a racist hit-and-run attack on a black NHS worker on July 29.
Yesterday, 11 days after the initial report was made, the broadcaster’s director-general Lord Tony Hall said they ‘made a mistake’ and ‘should have taken a different approach’.
In a lengthy Twitter thread written before their apology yesterday, Sofie wrote: ‘So a white BBC Newsreader is allowed to say the N-word on television whilst, on our BBC Sounds podcast, we were told not to say ‘”oh my god” because it could offend some listeners. Last year, I was told I couldn’t say “queer” in a BBC video even though I was describing myself.
‘I mean… The fact that I even have to say this is beyond me… I am NOT saying that if they’re allowed to say the n-word then I should have been allowed to say whatever I wanted. I am saying that the BBC only care about “not being offensive” when it comes to old white people.
The BBC was slammed after social affairs correspondent Fiona Lamdin (pictured) said the highly-offensive term while covering a racist hit-and-run attack on a black NHS worker on July 29
In a lengthy Twitter thread the presenter accused the Corporation of racism and said they only care about not being offensive when it comes to old white people
‘That if they censored “oh my god” and “queer” but not the N-word, it is very obvious what their priorities are. To make it absolutely 100% clear: white people should NEVER say the N-word. BBC News is not exception.
‘I also think I should be allowed to say “Oh my god'”. I ended up being very insisting re: “queer” and if I remember correctly, they ended up allowing it. But this is NOT about me.
‘It’s the fact that BBC didn’t apologise despite getting 18,000 complaints BECAUSE it was DEFINITELY offensive to black people. But they would not have someone say “oh my god” or “queer” because that MIGHT OFFEND some white people. The point is racism.
A BBC spokesperson told FEMAIL: ‘Listeners will have heard these words and phrases used in our content, including in Sofie’s BBC Ideas video that she refers to in her tweet.’
In a video for BBC ideas published in May 2019, called ‘The Funny Thing about being fat’ the comedian says ‘queer people’ are not being represented in the body positivity community.
Sofie, who made headlines in 2018 when she accused Cancer Research of fat-shaming for it’s campaign to raise awareness of the links between obesity and cancer, added that she felt it wasn’t producers who stopped her from using the terms.
‘Both times (for me) it was a matter of ‘official BBC guidelines’ or just someone higher up. The producers have usually been super nice and understanding,’ she added in another tweet.
Sofie, who made headlines in 2018 when she accused Cancer Research of fat-shaming for it’s campaign to raise awareness of the links between obesity and cancer, added that she felt it wasn’t producers who stopped her from using the terms
While the BBC initially defended their use of the N-word in the report, the broadcaster made a U-turn yesterday and admitted wrongdoing.
In an email sent to all BBC staff, Lord Hall said: ‘This morning I brought together a group of BBC colleagues to discuss our news coverage of the recent shocking attack on an NHS worker. I wanted us to look at the issues raised by the reporting and the strength of feeling surrounding it.
‘We are proud of the BBC’s values of inclusion and respect, and have reflected long and hard on what people have had to say about the use of the n-word and all racist language both inside and outside the organisation.
‘It should be clear that the BBC’s intention was to highlight an alleged racist attack. This is important journalism which the BBC should be reporting on and we will continue to do so.
Fiona Lamdin, left, used a racially offensive slur during a news broadcast on July 29. Yesterday, 11 days after the initial report was made, the broadcaster’s director-general Lord Tony Hall said they ‘made a mistake’ and ‘should have taken a different approach’
‘Yet despite these good intentions, I recognise that we have ended up creating distress amongst many people.
‘The BBC now accepts that we should have taken a different approach at the time of broadcast and we are very sorry for that. We will now be strengthening our guidance on offensive language across our output.
‘Every organisation should be able to acknowledge when it has made a mistake. We made one here. It is important for us to listen – and also to learn. And that is what we will continue to do.’
Ms Lamdin used the offensive term when covering the collision between a Honda Accord and a 21-year-old man in Bristol.
While the BBC initially defended their use of the N-word in the report, the broadcaster made a U-turn yesterday and admitted wrongdoing. In an email sent to all BBC staff, Lord Hall (pictured) said they ‘made a mistake’
Lamdin shocked viewers during the 10.30am clip for BBC Points West when she said: ‘Just to warn you, you’re about to hear highly offensive language.’
She added: ‘Because as the men ran away, they hurled racial abuse, calling him a n****r.’
BBC guidance says strong language should not be used before the 9pm watershed, but the N-word is usually seen as too rude to ever air.
June Sarpong, the BBC’s director of creative diversity, welcomed the decision, saying she is ‘glad’ that Lord Hall has ‘personally intervened to unequivocally apologise’.
Channel 4 News presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy praised Lord Hall for the move, adding: ‘But once again it has taken a direct intervention by the DG to overturn a mistake on race previously defended by the BBC’s editorial policy managers.’
Larry Madowo, a US correspondent for the BBC’s World Service, also commented on the move, saying that despite being black he had previously not been allowed to use the racist term in an article when quoting an African American.
‘But a white person was allowed to say it on TV because it was “editorially justified”,’ he said.
This is not the first time Lord Hall has made an intervention following a backlash over the BBC’s handling of discussions around race in its news output.
In September, he reversed a ruling by the corporation’s Executive Complaints Unit after it said BBC Breakfast host Naga Munchetty breached editorial guidelines when she condemned comments made by Donald Trump after he told female Democrats to ‘go back’ to their own countries.
On Saturday, BBC Radio 1xtra presenter Sideman (pictured) announced that he was quitting the Corporation over the broadcast
On Saturday, BBC Radio 1xtra presenter Sideman announced that he was quitting the Corporation over the broadcast.
Announcing the move on social media, he said the news report represented an ‘error of judgement’, adding it ‘feels like a slap in the face to our community’.
After Sideman, real name David Whitely, announced his decision, a BBC spokesman said on Saturday that while they were ‘aware that [the report] would cause offence’ it was important to explain the alleged context of the incident.
The broadcaster has also previously revealed that the decision was taken by a team of people which included senior editorial figures.