BBC Apologizes to Trump Over Editing of His Jan. 6 Speech in Documentary, Insists There's No Basis for Defamation Claim
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has issued an apology to former US President Donald Trump over the editing of his speech on January 6, 2021, which aired in its documentary "Trump: A Second Chance." The corporation strongly disagrees that there is a basis for a defamation claim.
In response to a letter from Mr. Trump's legal team, BBC lawyers wrote to say that they believe their actions were justified and did not seek to mislead viewers. They pointed out that the episode was produced by an external production company and did not air in the US. Additionally, they noted that the edits made to the speech were intended to shorten a long address rather than cause harm.
The BBC's response comes after Mr. Trump threatened to sue the corporation for $1 billion over the documentary program. In a statement, the White House said that the president would sue the BBC "for anywhere between a billion and $5 billion, probably sometime next week."
However, experts say that the BBC's response appears to be careful and considered. Mark Stephens, a US-based attorney, told CBS News that while Mr. Trump was owed an apology, there is no basis for him to pursue damages.
"President Trump was clearly owed a fulsome apology and he's had that," Mr. Stephens said. "I don't think he was entitled to damages, and so as a consequence, they've rightly hung tough on that particular issue."
The incident has sparked a significant PR victory for Mr. Trump, allowing him to call the BBC "fake news" and point to credible background for his claims.
In a separate development, the head of the BBC and its CEO of news resigned in the wake of criticism over the broadcaster's editing of the speech. Director-General Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness both announced their resignations on Sunday.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has issued an apology to former US President Donald Trump over the editing of his speech on January 6, 2021, which aired in its documentary "Trump: A Second Chance." The corporation strongly disagrees that there is a basis for a defamation claim.
In response to a letter from Mr. Trump's legal team, BBC lawyers wrote to say that they believe their actions were justified and did not seek to mislead viewers. They pointed out that the episode was produced by an external production company and did not air in the US. Additionally, they noted that the edits made to the speech were intended to shorten a long address rather than cause harm.
The BBC's response comes after Mr. Trump threatened to sue the corporation for $1 billion over the documentary program. In a statement, the White House said that the president would sue the BBC "for anywhere between a billion and $5 billion, probably sometime next week."
However, experts say that the BBC's response appears to be careful and considered. Mark Stephens, a US-based attorney, told CBS News that while Mr. Trump was owed an apology, there is no basis for him to pursue damages.
"President Trump was clearly owed a fulsome apology and he's had that," Mr. Stephens said. "I don't think he was entitled to damages, and so as a consequence, they've rightly hung tough on that particular issue."
The incident has sparked a significant PR victory for Mr. Trump, allowing him to call the BBC "fake news" and point to credible background for his claims.
In a separate development, the head of the BBC and its CEO of news resigned in the wake of criticism over the broadcaster's editing of the speech. Director-General Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness both announced their resignations on Sunday.
i dont get why trump is being so extra over it like calm down dude its just a speech edit lol. but seriously the bbc should have been more careful i mean we know theyre not perfect but 1billion? that's just ridiculous. and now the head of news and the director general are out? wth, what a mess 
. i think the BBC did the right thing though by standing firm on the editing stuff. trump is being super unfair and trying to spin this as fake news but really hes just trying to get attention. lets move on from this drama already 
, so Trumps team was all mad at BBC for editin his speech in a documentary 
, like, what's new rite? anywayz, i think the BBC did nothin wrong, edits 4 clarity n all that jazz 
, but Trumps still tryna sue 'em 4 $1billion, lol, dont think they got a shot 
. this PR win 4 Trump is gonna be epic tho, hes already callin the BBC "fake news" 
, classic move!
but for real tho, can u imagine if they had messed up a speech by a current student during prom or something? there would be major drama and ppl would be SO upset! I think it's cool that the experts are saying the BBC did nothing wrong tho, like, they just tried to edit out some unnecessary parts of Trump's speech. and yeah, this is kinda a PR win for Trump now 
but let's not forget that the head of news and director-general resigned... that's still pretty serious! 
The irony is just too rich here... Trump is whining about some minor edits to a documentary, while the BBC is getting roasted for it and losing its top brass 
. And let's be real, $1 billion is just a number - at this point, Trump might as well be asking for moonbeams and unicorn tears 
. But hey, I guess it's all good publicity for the ol' Donald... "fake news" and all that jazz 
.
I think it's pretty chill that the BBC is standing firm on this one... they've already given Trump an apology, which he seems to be cool with anyway 
. The fact that his team was trying to sue them for $1 billion is just crazy 
. Like, who does that? It's also interesting to see how this whole thing is blowing up in Trump's favor... "fake news" and all that 
, like bbc is just bowing down to trump's demands & apologizing for something that's basically no big deal... i mean what even is the damage they supposedly caused? a few seconds of editing? 
. The BBC did nothing wrong, just doing their job, and now they're being hounded over it 
. Mark Stephens seems right though, Trump doesn't have a case for damages 
This whole thing is crazy! The BBC apologizing to Trump, it just seems like they got caught out but I think its all pretty clear that they edited the speech for a reason. I mean, come on, 5 hours long? That's just ridiculous! They did what they had to do and now everyone knows about it. And let's be real, if Trump was so innocent with what he said back then... 
anyway, lawyers are saying that trumps claims are baseless and he's not entitled to damages, but like, trump just likes to stir up drama i guess 
Like, you're already giving a speech about something big and serious, and then someone comes along and cuts it down because it's too long? It just doesn't seem right. And the fact that he's threatening to sue for $1 billion is wild... like, I get that he's upset, but come on. A million dollars isn't going to make up for the editing of a speech 
.