John Cleese has joined the growing list of voices expressing their dismay at the BBC over its coverage of the ongoing protests in Iran.
The widespread civil unrest in the Islamic Republic is said to have been sparked by the country's economic woes, which as seen inflation skyrocket to more than 42 per cent and food prices surge by 72 per cent.
However, hostilities had been threatening to boil over for months prior to the latest protests against the regime's corruption, civil rights abuses, and critical energy shortages.
Despite the monumental moment in the country's history, the UK's national broadcaster has been accused of "ignoring" developments in its coverage, both online and via broadcast.
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In one of the most high-profile rows, the Israeli embassy publicly slammed the BBC over its reporting on the Iran protests, with embassy spokesman Alex Gandler claiming the broadcaster has maintained "near-total silence" on the demonstrations while devoting excessive attention to Gaza.
Iranian journalist Mani Barsharzad has added to the criticism, telling GB News that many Iranians perceive the BBC as biased in its coverage of the protests.
"There is a bias there because it doesn't fit the narrative," she said. "The narrative, which they want to say is 'it is their own culture'. 'If the Islamic Republic is oppressive, it's because the people want that.' But this is not the reality."
Now, Mr Cleese has joined the critics. He took to X, where he reposted criticism of the broadcaster from the likes of Sharron Davies and Jake Wallis Simons, among others taking aim at the Beeb over the supposed lack of coverage from Iran.
John Cleese has hit out at the BBC
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Mr Cleese also reacted to a post claiming the BBC was "deliberately ignoring" the protests as it "does not want to offend Islamists in the UK".
The actor endorsed the suggestion, replying: "This is the best explanation I've read so far. Incredible as it seems. I am so ashamed of the BBC."
Later on Thursday morning, one X user shared a screen-recording of them allegedly scrolling through the BBC News.
They captioned the recording: "NEW LOW FOR THE BBC: This is the current state of its homepage.
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Several people have reportedly died in the protests in Iran this week | REUTERS "There is happy news about the birth of twin mountain gorillas, and about Prince Harry meeting his father, the King, but nothing—not a single word—about the protests in Iran that threaten to bring down the IRGC."
Mr Cleese vented his fury with the broadcaster once more, reposting the recording with the message: "It appears that there is noone @BBC News who has the brains to distinguish between the utterly trivial and really significant.
"Is this the result of hiring tabloid 'journalists' who are concerned only with 'clicks'? BREATHTAKINGLY RUDDERLESS." (sic)
The Fawlty Towers star also showed his support for Harry Potter author JK Rowling who had publicly branded the "bravery" of those protesting in Tehran as "astounding".
John Cleese has slammed the BBC's coverage
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"They're light in what lately has felt like a very dark world," the author added in a post reposted by Mr Cleese.
The BBC has firmly rejected the accusations that it is "ignoring" the developments in Iran.
A BBC spokesperson said: "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."
The BBC News Press Team even responded directly to a GB News article about the bias claims, taking to X to once again dispute the allegations.
John Cleese has said he's 'ashamed' of the BBC
| GB NEWSIt posted: "And yet the BBC has covered the Iran protests daily across all platforms, including on major bulletins, in English and via BBC News Persian..."
The BBC News Press Team's X account also included a screenshot from the News at 10 broadcast on December 30 in which its reporter was discussing the latest.