The BBC has issued a formal apology to US President Donald Trump over the editing of a speech aired in a 2024 Panorama episode, describing the error as a “mistake of judgement” but insisting there is no basis for his threatened defamation lawsuit.
In a retraction published on Thursday, the broadcaster admitted that excerpts from Trump’s January 6, 2021 speech were taken from different parts of the address but edited in a way that made them appear as one continuous clip—creating the impression that he directly encouraged violent action at the US Capitol.
“We accept that our edit unintentionally gave the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action,” the BBC said. “The BBC would like to apologise to President Trump for that error of judgement.”
BBC chairman Samir Shah has also sent a personal letter to the White House conveying the corporation’s apology. However, the BBC maintains that despite the regrettable edit, “there is no basis for a defamation claim.”
The Panorama episode, Trump: A Second Chance?, has since been removed from all BBC platforms and will not be re-broadcast.
Trump had earlier threatened a billion-dollar lawsuit, accusing the broadcaster of having “defrauded the public” by misrepresenting his speech. His counsel, Alejandro Brito, demanded the immediate retraction of what he called “false, defamatory, disparaging and inflammatory statements.”
The controversy has triggered a wider fallout within the BBC. Director-general Tim Davie and news chief Deborah Turness have both resigned amid criticism of editorial standards. More than 500 complaints were reportedly filed following the disclosure of an internal memo raising concerns about the edit.
Fresh scrutiny has also emerged after revelations that a similar edit of Trump’s speech appeared in a 2022 Newsnight episode. The BBC says it is “looking into” the new claims.
The dispute has spilled into UK politics. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has urged Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to press Trump to “drop his ludicrous one billion-dollar lawsuit,” accusing the US president of trying to “destroy the BBC.” Reform UK, whose leader Nigel Farage has repeatedly accused the BBC of left-wing bias, has reportedly withdrawn from an upcoming BBC documentary over the row.
