The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has issued a heartfelt apology to the United States' President Donald Trump, acknowledging its misjudgment in editing his speech, which, according to Trump, served as a catalyst for the Capitol riots on January 6th, 2021. The controversy erupted after a Panorama documentary was criticized for its misleading edits, casting a dark shadow over Trump's image in front of millions of viewers.
On November 13th, 2025, the BBC released its apology to the U.S. President, admitting that it had made a "judgment error" while editing the Panorama episode featuring Trump's speech. The broadcast corporation stated that the edit had given "the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action," and it vowed not to air the October 2024 program again in any form.
Moreover, the BBC reported that its chairman, Samir Shah, had sent a personal letter to the White House, expressing sincere regret for the misleading edits to the speech. The letter read, "The BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited."
However, despite the apology, Trump threatened to sue the BBC for $1 billion in compensation for the "harm caused to his image," claiming that the documentary, aired a week before last year's U.S. Presidential election, was an "attempt to tip the scales of a presidential election." In his speech, Trump had said, "We're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women." But over 50 minutes later in the speech, he added, "And we fight. We fight like hell." The Panorama program clip, however, edited it to make it appear as if he had said, "We're going to walk down to the Capitol... and I'll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell."
On November 10th, 2025, Trump's lawyers sent a letter to the BBC demanding a "full and fair retraction" of the documentary, an apology, and appropriate compensation for the harm caused to President Trump. Trump gave the BBC an ultimatum: apologize by Friday, November 14th, 2025, and compensate him appropriately, or face legal action for the damages.
The fallout from this scandal also led to the resignations of BBC director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness.
