BBC apologises to Trump; refuses compensation
November 14, 2025
The BBC has apologised to US President Donald Trump for airing a Panorama episode that edited parts of a Trump speech together so he appeared to explicitly encouraged rioting – but the corporation has rejected his demands for compensation.
“Lawyers for the BBC have written to President Trump’s legal team in response to a letter received on [November 9th],” a BBC spokesperson said in a retraction statement. “BBC chair Samir Shah has separately sent a personal letter to the White House making clear to President Trump that he and the corporation are sorry for the edit of the president’s speech on 6 January 2021, which featured in the programme.”
“The BBC has no plans to rebroadcast the documentary Trump: A Second Chance? on any BBC platforms. 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,” added the statement.
Lawyers for Trump have threatened to sue the BBC for $1 billion in damages unless the corporation issues a retraction, apologises and compensates him. Legal experts have said that Trump would face challenges taking the case to court in the UK or the US.
The controversy has already led to both BBC director general Tim Davie and CEO of BBC News Deborah Turness resigning.
Other posts by :
- Major banks support AST SpaceMobile
- Fitch downgrades DirecTV debt
- Some new US Starlink subs face $1,000 start-up fee
- Project Kuiper beating OneWeb
- OQ Tech gets Luxembourg 5G-by-Sat concession
- Roskosmos: Heads roll, launch project scrapped
- MDA under pressure over satellite order
- SES backs C-band action from FCC