BBC hit by more than 100 complaints over trans radio guest’s attack against JK Rowling

The BBC has received more than 100 complaints following a radio guests remarks against JK Rowling (Image: GETTY)

The BBC has been hit by more than 100 complaints and forced to apologise after a trans radio guest was allowed to accuse JK Rowling of transphobia without being fully challenged. Stacey Henley, a trans woman and editor-in-chief at The Gamer, accused the best-selling author of pushing “transphobia” and a “campaign against trans people”. She made the comments on BBC Radio 4’s PM show while discussing the new Harry Potter video game, Hogwarts Legacy.

Evan Davis, who was hosting the radio show, replied: “Obviously, JK Rowling… wouldn’t say she’s transphobic.”

But the presenter quickly came under fire from women’s rights group For Women Scotland for only making “perfunctory efforts” to intervene as part of the “skewed piece”.

After the show aired last Thursday, Mr Davis said the programme “hadn’t intended it that way”.

The BBC has now been hit by more than 100 complaints following the comments against the Harry Potter creator, according to MailOnline.

JK Rowling was accused of pushing ‘transphobia’ and a ‘campaign against trans people”‘ (Image: GETTY)

The broadcaster has apologised and said in statement: “This is a difficult and contentious area which we do try very hard to cover fairly.

“However, we should have challenged the claims more directly and we apologise that we did not.”

“We do accept that there wasn’t sufficient challenge to the claims that were made and that we fell short here.’

For Women Scotland was happy the BBC issued an apology but warned “the damage will have been done by broadcasting this interview”.

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The BBC has apologised and released a statement (Image: GETTY)

The women’s rights group added it was “completely unacceptable that such defamatory comments were aired unchecked”.

A spokesperson told Express.co.uk: “We are pleased that the BBC has decided to issue an apology, but the damage will have been done by broadcasting this interview.

“We also believe that Evan Davies and the producers must have been aware that this might happen and should have prepared for the eventuality.

“It was completely unacceptable that such defamatory comments were aired unchecked and we trust that a piece of equivalent length will feature on PM in the near future to set the record straight.”

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Evan Davis came under fire from women’s rights group For Women Scotland (Image: GETTY)

In recent months and years, Ms Rowling has published a series of long blog posts and quick tweets with her thoughts about gender and feminism.

Benjamin Jones, a spokesperson for the Free Speech Union, said the comments from Ms Henley were part of a long-term “campaign” to “smear” and “bully” people who do not agree with what he calls the “trans ideology”.

Talking about the recent incident, he told Express.co.uk: “It’s a completely baseless accusation and it’s part of a long-running pattern we see at the Free Speech Union where people are smeared or bullied if they don’t agree with trans ideology.

“JK Rowling has shown tremendous moral courage in speaking out about these issues.

“But for people who don’t have wealth the consequences can be devastating: you can lose your job and find you can’t pay the mortgage, just because you don’t agree with the beliefs of trans rights activists.”