A historian and author says he is “really disappointed” after a comment about Donald Trump was removed from a lecture he gave on BBC Radio 4.
Rutger Bregman, who is presenting this year’s Reith Lecture, said that he had included the line in a segment discussing American politics, but that it had been removed before its broadcast.
The Dutch historian wrote on social media that the decision came “from the highest levels of the BBC”.
A BBC spokesperson said the corporation had “taken the decision to remove a sentence from the lecture on legal advice”. BBC News is not repeating the line in question on the same legal advice.
The US President recently threatened to sue the BBC for up to $5 billion over the editing of an episode of Panorama.
The BBC has apologized for the Panorama edit, admitting that it “gave the false impression that President Trump had directly called for violent action on the day of the riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021”.
BBC Director General Tim Davie and BBC News CEO Deborah Ternes both resigned in the wake of outrage over the edited programme.
Bregman, who is known for books including Humankind and Utopia for Realists, posted on Tuesday after his first lecture was broadcast and said the BBC had “decided to censor” it.
He wrote, “This sentence was taken from a lecture he gave, which was reviewed through a thorough editorial process and recorded in front of 500 people at the BBC Radio Theater four weeks ago.”
“I was told that this decision came from the highest levels of the BBC. It has been made against my wishes, and I am really disappointed by it.”
He said this disappointment was “not because people can’t disagree with my words, but because fear-driven self-censorship (Trump’s threat to sue the BBC) should concern us all”.
Bregman said it was “ironic” that the line was removed “because the lecture was exactly about the ‘maddening cowardice’ of today’s elite”, adding that he was sharing his experience in the hope that “transparency helps strengthen our democratic culture, not weaken it”.
Bregman also shared an excerpt of his speech online, with an edited short sentence just before the sentence in which he referred to Trump as a “guilty reality star.”
He described Trump as a “modern-day Caligula”, saying: “He has surrounded himself with loyalists, bribers and sycophants.”
A BBC spokesperson said: “All our programs are required to follow BBC editorial guidelines, and we have taken the decision to remove a sentence from the lecture on legal advice.”
When Bregman was announced as the 2025 Reith Lecturer, the BBC said that his series, titled Moral Revolution, would “dive deeper into the current ‘age of immorality’, exploring the growing trend of serendipity among the elite”.
Three more of his lectures will be released in the coming weeks. These are broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in the UK and on the BBC World Service internationally, and are also available on BBC Sounds.
Previous Reith lecturers have included Stephen Hawking, Hilary Mantel, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Bertrand Russell and King Charles III when he was Prince Charles.
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