The BBC has bowed to a torrent of pressure from Jewish staffers and groups by cutting scenes of an Apprentice contestant from the You’re Fired companion show following antisemitic tweets.
Controversial contestant Dr Asif Munaf‘s scenes are understood to have been recorded over the weekend but will not be shown on the upcoming companion show.
BBC staffers are said to have been “shocked” by the decision to have filmed the scenes. A Telegraph report last month revealed that Munaf had been given diversity training after making antisemitic posts on social media including writing that Zionists are a “godless satanic cult” and references to the “trial of the zionist antichrist.”
At the time, a BBC source told The Telegraph, “had this content been posted before filming took place, Asif would not have been included in the show.”
Yet Munaf has continued to tweet as the show has been airing, referencing “ziotrolls” in a tweet on February 1, the day after the Telegraph article came out, much to the chagrin of BBC staffers who were left in disbelief that the You’re Fired scenes had been filmed over the weekend.
“We can confirm that the individual concerned will not feature as a guest on any additional upcoming BBC content relating to The Apprentice,” said a spokesman. Hosted by Tom Allen, You’re Fired airs immediately after The Apprentice on BBC Two and features interviews with the ‘fired’ contestants.
Jewish staffers angered
Munaf, an NHS doctor who once appeared on the BBC’s Dragon’s Den, will not be appearing on the BBC any time soon but for some current and former Jewish staffers the damage is done.
“I’m stunned,” said one. “It’s got to the situation where [management] are trying to get through the issue, not dealing with the issue, and I don’t think it will pass anytime soon.”
There is particular frustration with BBC content boss Charlotte Moore over the way in which the Munaf situation has been dealt with, Deadline is told. After Hamas’ October 7 attack, Moore was made the BBC Board’s antisemitism representative, and yet insiders feel she has been far too slow to get a lid on the Munaf debacle.
Zone of Interest producer Danny Cohen, who used to head up programing for the BBC and now runs Access Entertainment, told Deadline: “I would advise BBC managers to stop telling Jewish employees what is and isn’t antisemitism. This simply would not happen if the issue involved racism against any other minority community.”
Cohen added that it is “hard to believe that the BBC recorded a programme this week featuring a man with indisputably racist views.”
Jewish groups such as the Board of Deputies of British Jews have also slammed the BBC’s handling of the situation, with President Marie van der Zyl writing to Director General Tim Davie and incoming chair Samir Shah urging them to stop platforming Munaf and to apologize for its “mishandling of the situation.”
“Asif Munaf has repeatedly used antisemitic invective,” she said. “When this originally came to light, he initially claimed remorse, only to flagrantly repeat the offence.”
Munaf was still appearing on the show in the week that Deadline revealed a senior BBC scheduler was facing disciplinary action for a string of antisemitic Facebook posts in which she referred to the “holohoax” and peddled extreme conspiracy theories. The staffer, Dawn Queva, has since left the BBC.
Deadline has reached out to Munaf for comment.
