The BBC is facing fresh censorship backlash after Rutger Bregman, who presents the flagship Reith lecture series, took to social media to accuse the corporation of removing a line from one of his speeches.
Mr Bregman, 37, claims that his description of Donald Trump being "the most openly corrupt president in American history" was removed from his lecture, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 yesterday morning.
The Dutch historian said that his claim, made as part of his Moral Revolution: A Time of Monsters lecture, "could not be a bigger irony" as his lecture was based on "the cowardice of today's elite."
Mr Bregman said on social media platform X: "The BBC has decided to censor the opening lecture of a series the invited me to give.
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"They deleted a sentence in which I described Donald Trump as 'The most openly corrupt President in American history.'
"That line is gone. It has been removed from the version broadcast on BBC Radio 4 this morning."
The Dutch historian added that the decision had come "from the highest levels within the BBC".
"This has happened against my wishes, and I'm genuinely dismayed by it," Mr Bregman added.
Rutger Bregman has accused the BBC of 'censorship' after he one of his lines from a lecture was removed for a BBC Radio broadcast
|X
In reference to President Trump's looming $5billion BBC lawsuit, he said his dismay was "not because people can't disagree with my words, but because self-censorship driven by fear should concern all of us."
Bregman said that his claim of the President's "corruption" was "not a baseless accusation".
"It was a defensible and plausible statement. It’s well known that Donald Trump and his family are personally profiting for the presidency to a degree we haven’t seen before," he said.
"According to a major investigation in the New Yorker published last August, the total personal gains already exceed roughly $3.5 billion from real estate deals to meme coins."
The BBC are facing fresh censorship accusations after reportedly removing criticism of Donald Trump in a recent Rutger Bregman lecture broadcast on BBC Radio 4
|PA
A BBC spokesman said: "All of our programmes are required to comply with the BBC's editorial guidelines, and we made the decision to remove one sentence from the lecture on legal advice."
The lecture was originally given to 500 people in the BBC Radio Theatre in London and broadcast live on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday morning.
Mr Bregman is said to be most known for "calling out billionaires and bankers" over claims of tax avoidance at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2019.
When the historian was first announced as a speaker on the show in September, Mohit Bakaya, BBC Radio 4’s controller, promised that the lectures would kick off a "lively and important conversation".
"His Reith lectures are a provocation — arguing that we are in an age of crisis, but offering hope about where we could go from here," she said at the time.
The news comes at a tumultuous time for the BBC, after President Trump's threats to sue the corporation after the spliced up a speech he gave on their flagship show Panorama.
The fallout saw Director-General Tim Davie and Head of News Deborah Turness resign from their roles, while BBC Chairman Dr Samir Shah apologised to "all the people that believe in the BBC and care for it."
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