(RightWing.org) – A British radio host is facing criticism after suggesting President Joe Biden should have his Republican rival murdered. The BBC presenter made the outrageous suggestion in a social media post. BBC staff are supposed to comply with a neutrality policy when they use social media, but the taxpayer-funded broadcasting company rarely enforces it.
On July 1, David Aaronovitch, who presents the weekly “The Briefing Room” podcast on BBC Radio 4, took to X (formerly Twitter) to attack Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. The 69-year-old former communist posted a message that said “If I was Biden, I’d hurry up and have Trump murdered on the basis that he is a threat to America’s security.” The post violated social media neutrality guidelines the BBC brought in last year, after a string of complaints about left-wing comments made by its presenters.
Other British journalists quickly turned on Aaronovitch. The Spectator magazine pointed out that the BBC’s impartiality rules still don’t seem to be working, while Adam Brooks of the conservative-leaning GB News called the presenter an “ utter scumbag.” US journalist Jack Montgomery joined in, accusing Aaronovitch of having Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Under pressure, Aaronovitch deleted his message — but he’s unrepentant. In other posts to X, he complained about a “far right pile on,” and accused his critics of being “some of the daftest people on this site.”
Aaronovitch didn’t explain his comment, but he added the hashtag #SCOTUS to the message. That was the first clue that he was annoyed at the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that Trump has at least some legal immunity for actions he took as president.
Later, responding to Montgomery, he asked “Did you see the Supreme Court ruling Jack?” Finally, he admitted his post was indeed about the immunity ruling — and that makes it political. So far, however, the BBC hasn’t taken any action against him. That isn’t going to help the network’s reputation among British Conservatives who have been accusing it of left-wing bias for decades.
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