THE BBC has found itself accused of a “major journalistic scandal” after a woman it platformed in a heavily criticised article went on to call for the execution of all transgender women.
The corporation published an article on October 26 entitled "We're being pressured into sex by some trans women", and was accused of failing to meet journalistic standards.
Much of the concern emerged as the article cited a poll of just 80 people which was distributed via social media as evidence of lesbians “being pressured or coerced to accept a trans woman as a sexual partner”.
Lily Cade, a former adult film star, was among those spoken to for the article. Cade was quoted as saying she had backed out of a performance after finding out it would be with a trans woman.
READ MORE: BBC removes Lily Cade from article after transphobic blog posts
The article received almost 5000 complaints, and a similar number of responses in support, according to reports in The Guardian.
An open letter to the BBC from campaign group Trans Activism UK, which was signed by more than 20,000 people, criticised the article.
The BBC rejected these complaints, saying that the coverage of the trans debate had to be seen in a wider context and that the piece formed part of the corporation’s “strong commitment to impartiality”.
Following her appearance in the BBC article, Cade’s blog, which had sat unused since 2019, was fired back into life.
In a flurry of new posts, five in as many days, Cade appeared to engage in extreme transphobia, with one saying: “If you left it up to me, I’d execute every last one of them [trans women] personally.”
The posts also claim without basis that transexual surgeons are experimenting on children’s bodies, that a paedophile cult is in power in the Western world, and that it is an “obvious truth that trans women are men with a mental illness”.
One post specifically calls for famous trans women, including Caitlyn Jenner (below) and Lana and Lilly Wachowski, to be lynched.
On one tangent, Cade also appear to call George Floyd, the man whose murder at the hands of American police officer Derek Chauvin sparked worldwide protests, “an annoying piece of s***”.
The BBC article said it had spoken to “high profile trans women” about the issues reported in the article, but that they had declined to be interviewed.
READ MORE: Those who support rights of women AND trans people will not be silenced
However, this was questioned after one trans performer, named Chelsea Poe, claimed on Twitter that the BBC had spoken to them ahead of the article, but had not published any of the interview.
The news has sparked outrage, with political commentator Owen Jones calling it a “genuinely major journalistic scandal”.
Seriously. Lily Cade has written a Unabomber-style rant about literally executing trans woman, with the specific names of who she would lynch. That's who @BBCNews are platforming as having a legitimate viewpoint in the discussion around trans rights. That's where we are.
— Steph Paton 🍂 (@stephenpaton134) November 2, 2021
National contributor Steph Paton wrote: “Seriously. Lily Cade has written a Unabomber-style rant about literally executing trans women, with the specific names of who she would lynch. That's who @BBCNews are platforming as having a legitimate viewpoint in the discussion around trans rights. That's where we are.”
Commenting, the campaign group Stop Funding Hate added: “This is shocking.”
The BBC, which has faced calls to take down the article but has as yet taken no action, has been approached for comment.
READ NEXT: BBC removes Lily Cade from article after transphobic blog posts
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