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Historian and author Rutger Bregman has expressed his disappointment after a remark about Donald Trump was excised from one of his lectures aired on BBC Radio 4. Bregman, who is the presenter of this year’s Reith Lectures, revealed that the sentence was part of a discussion on US politics but was removed before the broadcast. He stated on social media that the decision originated “from the highest levels within the BBC.”
The BBC confirmed that it had decided to remove a single sentence from the lecture on the grounds of legal advice. However, they declined to repeat the edited line publicly. This incident follows recent tensions between the BBC and the former US president, who threatened legal action against the broadcaster over a previous Panorama episode. The BBC apologized for the Panorama edit, admitting it mistakenly implied that President Trump had explicitly called for violence on 6 January 2021, the day of the Capitol riot. The controversy led to the resignations of BBC Director General Tim Davie and BBC News CEO Deborah Turness.
Rutger Bregman, known for his books such as *Humankind* and *Utopia for Realists*, shared his frustration after the first lecture aired, accusing the BBC of censorship. “This sentence was taken out of a lecture they commissioned, reviewed through the full editorial process, and recorded four weeks ago in front of 500 people in the BBC Radio Theatre,” Bregman wrote. He expressed that the removal was against his wishes and that he was “genuinely dismayed.” His concern was not primarily about disagreement with his words, but because the decision was influenced by fear of legal action from Trump, something he feels should alarm everyone. Bregman also reflected on the irony of the situation, as his lecture aimed to critique the “paralysing cowardice” of contemporary elites.
In addition to this, Bregman shared a segment of his speech online where he referred to Trump as a “convicted reality star” immediately before the deleted sentence. He further likened Trump to a “modern-day Caligula,” highlighting that he “surrounds himself with loyalists, grifters and sycophants.” The BBC reiterated that all its programming must adhere to the corporation’s editorial guidelines, which influenced their decision to remove the sentence. When Bregman was announced as this year’s Reith Lecturer, the BBC described his series, titled *Moral Revolution*, as an exploration of the current “age of immorality” and the trend of unseriousness among elites. The remainder of Bregman’s lectures will be broadcast in the coming weeks on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service, and they will also be made available on BBC Sounds
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