The BBC has acknowledged shortcomings in its contributor vetting procedures after inviting influencer Bushra Shaikh to appear on its flagship Sunday show, despite her history of making controversial comments about Jewish people, the October 7 attacks and the Iran War.
The broadcaster admitted that checks carried out on Shaikh’s social media activity did not meet the standards expected when selecting contributors for its programmes.
Shaikh, a former contestant on The Apprentice, appeared on BBC One’s Sunday Morning Live on October 11, where she discussed women’s right to wear the burka. Her appearance attracted criticism after previous social media posts resurfaced, including comments in which she described Jewish people who move to Israel as “lying scumbags”.
Hours before she appeared on the programme, Shaikh posted on X: “Israel is a bigger threat to the West than Iran.”
The JC has previously reported how Shaikh, who last year appeared in Channel 4’s programme Go Back To Where You Come From, suggested Jewish people should “go back to f***ing Europe”, and also blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the Heaton Park Synagogue attack last year in Manchester, which left two people dead.
Shaikh also tweeted after the Hamas-led October 7 massacre: “Palestinians have done more in five minutes than Zelensky has done with 75bn. Humiliation is an understatement.”
Following her appearance on Sunday Morning Live, Labour MP David Taylor wrote to BBC director general Matt Brittin demanding to know what checks had been carried out before Shaikh appeared on the programme and whether the BBC was aware of her previous comments.
In a response on Thursday, Daisy Scalchi, the BBC’s head of religion and ethics for television, and commissioning editor of Sunday Morning Live, acknowledged the concerns raised.
According to The Telegraph, Scalchi acknowledged the “hurt and alarm” Shaikh’s views on social media had caused, and had asked the production company that makes Sunday Morning Live to look into how she came to be invited on to the programme.
“The senior team confirmed they had not been made aware of these posts, which they accept is not in line with the standards we expect when selecting contributors for BBC programmes,” Scalchi said.
“The company has subsequently reviewed and updated its protocols, including oversight of these checks by the most senior member of the production team. I will continue to monitor these processes to ensure they are sufficiently robust.”
In response, Taylor said: “It’s encouraging that the BBC has admitted they were wrong to invite Bushra Shaikh onto one of their programmes.
“But… it’s still incredibly alarming that she was even considered as a potential talking head in the first place.
“The BBC has a vital responsibility to maintain the trust of audiences across the country. If it wants to maintain that trust, it cannot allow incidents like this to continue occurring.”
Shaikh has rejected allegations that her comments were antisemitic or demonstrated support for the Iranian government.
She said in a statement to The Telegraph: “I am not antisemitic. I reject antisemitism, and I do not believe Jewish people are a monolith.
“I certainly do not believe that Jews as a group are responsible for the actions of the Israeli government or any other government. I judge individuals, governments, political movements and institutions on their actions and statements.
“I have criticised the Israeli government and its policies, just as I have criticised governments and political actors elsewhere. Criticism of a government or political ideology should not automatically be transformed into hostility towards an ethnic or religious group.
“Likewise, analysing Iran’s government, military capabilities, foreign policy or geopolitical strategy does not make me ‘sympathetic to the Iranian regime’. I have never presented myself as a supporter of the Iranian government. Reporting and analysing the position of a state is not the same as endorsing it.”
The BBC has been approached for comment.
The incident comes amid wider scrutiny of the BBC over allegations of antisemitism within the organisation. The broadcaster has faced calls from MPs for an independent inquiry following a separate employment dispute involving Jewish former producer Lucie Kon, who received a reported settlement of more than £400,000 after raising allegations of antisemitism.
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