Another day, another BBC apology. This time, the corporation has said sorry to Nigel Farage after presenter Matt Chorley misquoted the Reform leader on Newsnight.
In an interview with Kemi Badenoch on Tuesday, the former Times Radio presenter claimed Farage had called for ‘white cold rage’ in response to the tragic death of Henry Nowak. He hadn’t. The term the Reform leader actually used, in a broadcast clip, was ‘pure cold rage’. Furious friends of Farage warned that the misquote changed the meaning of what he said, making it sound racialised.
Owning up to the error, which was made three times on camera, Chorley posted on X:
I owe Nigel Farage an apology. This was a mistake on my part, a misremembering of the quote. It didn’t change the content of the interview, but I should have got the quote right. I apologise to Nigel Farage for this.
After being threatened with a defamation suit, the Beeb also issued an institution-wide grovelling apology. Its the third time Aunty has had to say sorry to Farage since 2023. The episode has now been pulled from iPlayer and BBC Sounds. Newsnight is due to repeat the apology on air tonight.
It comes as Badenoch this evening uploaded a new video attacking Farage’s response to the Nowak murder. The Reform leader made headlines following his call for ‘rage’ and his use of the term ‘white lives matter’. In her riposte, the Conservative leader accused Farage of being as bad as the left in leaning into identity politics.
She argued: ‘We should respond not with rage, but with courage.’ After hitting out at the perverse consequences ‘critical race theory’ has had on Britain, she added: ‘Every life matters. One law. One standard. For everyone. This is about justice, for Henry, for his family and for all our children. They deserve better.’
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