The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has apologized to U.S. President Donald Trump for edits to his speech, which, according to Trump, allegedly fueled the January 6 Capitol riots in 2021.
The BBC came under fire after criticism that the Panorama documentary misleadingly edited a speech by Trump, which badly trashed his image in front of millions of people.
The media outlet apologized to the U.S. President on Thursday, November 13, 2025, admitting that it made an ‘error of judgment’ while editing a Panorama episode including Trump’s speech.
The broadcasting corporation said the edit had given "the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action". It said it would not air the October 2024 program again in any form.
The BBC also reported that chairman Samir Shah has sent a personal letter to the White House apologizing for the misleading edits to the speech.
The letter said, “The BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited."
However, the broadcasting corporation refused to pay $1bn (£759) in compensation, stating that “we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim.”
The latest episode that sparked controversy against the U.S. President was titled “Trump: A Second Chance?”
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to sue the BBC if it failed to compensate $1bn for the ‘harm caused to his image.'
Trump said the documentary that aired a week before the U.S. Presidential election last year had been an “attempt to step on the scale of a presidential election.”
In Trump's speech, he said, "We're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women."
More than 50 minutes later in the speech, he said, "And we fight. We fight like hell."
While the Panorama programme clip showed him as saying, "We're going to walk down to the Capitol... and I'll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell."
The BBC received the letter from Trump's lawyers on Sunday, November 10, 2025, that demands a "full and fair retraction" of the documentary, an apology, and that the BBC "appropriately compensate President Trump for the harm caused".
Trump gave the BBC an ultimatum: apologize by Friday, November 14, 2025, and appropriately compensate him, or face legal action for the damages.
The fallout from the scandal also led to the resignations of BBC director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness.
