Name: BBC apologizes to Trump over speech edit but rejects defamation claim
Uploaded: 2025-11-14T16:41:11.630Z
Duration: 1 min 48 s
Description: The BBC sent a personal apology to U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday but said there was no legal basis for him to sue the public broadcaster over a documentary his lawyers called defamatory.

The BBC sent a personal apology to U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday but said there was no legal basis for him to sue the public broadcaster over a documentary his lawyers called defamatory.

London

The BBC has formally apologized to former US President Donald Trump after a documentary aired by the broadcaster included a misleadingly edited version of his January 6, 2021 speech. The edit, made by a third-party production company, spliced together two separate sections of the speech, creating the impression that Trump had called for violence.

Following public outcry and the resignation of two senior BBC executives, the broadcaster stated it would not rebroadcast the documentary and sought legal advice. While Trump has threatened a $1 billion lawsuit, legal experts note that any defamation claim would face significant hurdles in the US, and the BBC maintains there is no legal basis for such a suit.

BBC apologizes to Trump over speech edit but rejects defamation claim

Amaya Culpa from the BBC. On Thursday, the British public broadcaster announced that a personal apology was sent to US President Donald Trump and that the documentary Trump, A Second Chance would not be rebroadcast. The third-party production company that made the film deceptively edited Trump's speech on January 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the Capitol. Two sections delivered almost an hour apart were spliced together, creating the impression he had called for violence. Trump demanded an apology and threatened to file a $1 billion lawsuit. Are you going ahead and suing the BBC? Well, I guess I have to, you know, why not? Because they defrauded the public and they've admitted it. The documentary was broadcast over a year ago, ahead of the 2024 US presidential election, but claims of bias came to light because of a leaked report by a BBC standards official. The debacle has thrown the BBC into its biggest crisis in decades, with two senior executives resigning and public uproar on both sides of the Atlantic. They are right to apologize for what were serious mistakes, and they are right to have sought legal advice in order to respond robustly on that point. If Trump goes forward with a lawsuit, it would have to be in the US, because the one-year window to file defamation claims in the UK has passed. And the president would have a high legal bar to clear. The actual malice test is a test that public figures like Mr. Trump will need to meet in the US. And he will need to establish that the BBC either knew that the edit was false, or he will need to show that the BBC was reckless as to the truth. The BBC maintains there is no legal basis for Trump to sue.

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