John Cleese slams BBC in furious ‘bias’ row as he says ‘I’m ashamed’ | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV
John Cleese, 86, is part of the growing list of people voicing their concern at the BBC over its coverage of the ongoing protests in Iran. It comes as the corporation has been accused of “ignoring” developments in its coverage. Protests have broken out in at least 17 of Iran’s provinces since December 28, when anger erupted in the capital following a sharp devaluation of Iran’s currency against the dollar and other major foreign currencies. The Israeli embassy publicly blasted the BBC over its reporting on the protests, with an embassy spokesperson, Alex Gandler, alleging the corporation has maintained “near-total silence” on the protests while giving excessive attention to the Gaza conflict.
Cleese has now weighed in on the debate, taking to X to reshare criticism of the BBC from the likes of Sharron Davies and Jake Wallis Simpson, among others.
He also reacted to a post claiming the broadcaster was “deliberately ignoring” the demonstrations as it “does not want to offend Islamists in the UK”.
Endorsing the suggestion, the star replied: “This is the best explanation I’ve read so far. Incredible as it seems. I am so ashamed of the BBC.”
Cleese also backed Harry Potter author JK Rowling on the social media platform, who had hailed the “bravery” of people protesting in Iran’s capital, Tehran, as “astounding”.
“They’re light in what lately has felt like a very dark world,” Rowling said in a post reposted by Cleese.
The BBC continues to reject the claims that it is ignoring developments in Iran.
A BBC spokesperson said in a statement: “These criticisms are factually incorrect; we have been covering the protests in Iran daily across all of our platforms, including our main news bulletins, in English and via BBC News Persian.”
