Naga Munchetty praised by drag performer on BBC Breakfast for 'calling out racism'
BBC Breakfast guest Amrou Al-Kadhi put on a show of support for Naga Munchetty today on the programme as the drag performer declared “all people of colour were standing alongside [her] the past week”.
Munchetty found herself at the centre of a media storm after the BBC ruled she’d breached impartiality guidelines after branding tweets sent by US president Donald Trump as being “embedded in racism”.
However, this week saw the decision overturned after the BBC’s director-general Tony Hall reviewed the case.
The presenter has since remained tight-lipped on the subject which was not broached on BBC Breakfast until today.
Read more: Naga Munchetty's 'victory dance' as BBC overturns complaint against her
Al-Kadhi was on the programme to discuss their new book, Unicorn, which details their experience as a Muslim drag queen but began the interview by addressing Munchetty.
The performer declared: “Naga I just wanted to say I’m so excited to be here with you. And all people of colour were standing alongside you the past week.
“Us sisters have to stick together, and it’s never, never biased to call out racism. So it’s a real honour to be here with you today.”
Munchetty replied: “Thank you for your thoughts.”
Al-Kadhi later shared a message to Twitter where they said they were “very proud” to “show solidarity” with Munchetty, whom they described as “absolutely wonderful”.
Was very proud to be able to show solidarity with the absolutely wonderful @BBCNaga on @BBCBreakfast this morning. Thank you so much to Naga and Charlie for having me on to discuss my book UNICORN, and for such warm, generous questions. I had the best time :) pic.twitter.com/fuz0fZCtmV
— Amrou Al-Kadhi (@Glamrou) October 4, 2019
Following Lord Hall’s review of the case, he said in an email to staff that Munchetty had only broken guidelines in a “limited way”.
He added: “But, in this instance, I don’t think Naga’s words were sufficient to merit a partial uphold of the complaint around the comments she made.”
Munchetty had received a show of support from famous faces including Sir Lenny Henry, Afua Hirsch and Gina Yashere.