The BBC has dropped a contestant of The Apprentice from its spin-off show after he made ‘a stream of anti-Jewish’ comments on social media.
Television executives succumbed to pressure from a Jewish group and edited former NHS doctor Asif Munaf out of tonight’s episode of The Apprentice: You’re Fired! on BBC2.
Dr Munaf – who now owns his own wellness brand – described Zionism as a ‘satanic cult’ in the aftermath of the October 7 terror attack.
He also wrote on social media that he was compiling a ‘list of sadistic doctors’ who were ‘supporting the Zionist genocide’ and described Zionists as ‘odiously ogre-like’, also labelling the ‘Zionist PR machine’ as ‘slimy’.
The discovery of his comments caused outrage across the Jewish community, with the Board of Deputies of British Jews complaining to Tim Davie, the BBC director-general and Samir Shah, it’s chairman, about having Dr Munaf on the show.
The BBC has dropped Asif Munaf from one of their Apprentice spin-off shows after he made ‘a stream of anti-Jewish’ comments on social media
Television executives succumbed to pressure from a Jewish group and edited former NHS doctor Asif Munaf out of tonight’s episode of The Apprentice: You’re Fired! on BBC2
The Board of Deputies of British Jews’ statement after Dr Munaf was edited from the show
And though it appears Dr Munaf won’t be edited out of The Apprentice for the time-being, the BBC did confirm he would not feature on their future shows.
‘We can confirm that the individual concerned will not feature as a guest on any additional upcoming BBC content relating to The Apprentice’, a BBC spokesperson told the today.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews also issued a statement, saying they believed the Jewish community were owed an apology from the BBC.
They wrote: ‘Following the Board of Deputies President’s urgent letter to the BBC Director-General Tim Davie and the BBC Chairman this morning, we have been notified that the BBC has significantly edited all content relating to BBC 2’s You’re Fired concerning Asif Munaf.
‘We hope that the BBC will apologise publicly to the Jewish community for their handling of this sorry situation and send the people responsible for antisemitism awareness training.’
Earlier this week, the BBC came under fire for broadcasting episodes of The Apprentice starring Dr Munaf.
Executives refused to take the programme off-air after former NHS doctor Asif Munaf continued to make ‘grotesquely antisemitic’ remarks after a BBC-organised diversity and inclusion training course.
Dr Munaf – who now owns his own wellness brand – described Zionism as a ‘satanic cult’ in the aftermath of the October 7 terror attack
Dr Munaf was sent on an equalities training course after the BBC was alerted to his tweets once filming had concluded
Dr Munaf was sent on an equalities training course after the BBC was alerted to his tweets once filming had concluded. The BBC said had the posts been there before filming, he would not have been included in the show.
At the time a spokesman for The Apprentice said: ‘After filming had taken place, we were made aware of concerns over social media posts that Asif had made after he had left the process.
‘As soon as we were alerted, we took immediate action and spoke to Asif in detail on this. Asif took part in specialised training to understand why his posts may cause offence.’
Dr Munaf insisted ‘it was not my intention to offend anyone’.
But since then he has continued to make controversial remarks about the conflict in Israel and Gaza.
Two weeks ago he wrote that the ‘Zionist mask is falling’ and accused Israel of weaponizing the Holocaust to ‘push another fascist ideology’.
On Monday, Danny Cohen – former director of BBC Television – claimed the training ‘clearly did not work’ citing further offensive remarks by Dr Munaf.
Writing in The Telegraph Mr Cohen said: ‘The BBC’s inaction sends a message.
‘You can be racist towards Jews and there are no consequences. You can enjoy fame on the BBC even if you are the kind of person whose views painfully remind Jewish viewers of Nazi propaganda.
‘Once again, the Jewish community has been failed by the BBC.’
Two weeks ago he wrote that the ‘Zionist mask is falling’ and accused Israel of weaponizing the Holocaust to ‘push another fascist ideology’
Former director of BBC Television Danny Cohen said earlier this week: ‘Once again, the Jewish community has been failed by the BBC’
On Tuesday a spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: ‘How does the BBC think that Jewish people react when they turn on the television and see someone who has engaged in the most vicious rhetoric on their national broadcaster?
‘Asif Munaf has reportedly spoken of “the Zionist antichrist”, the “slimy Zionist PR machine”, “odiously ogre-like Zionists”, “Zionist doctors”, “weaponising the Holocaust” and more.
‘These sorts of views should usually get you fired. At the BBC, they just put you on telly.’
Director of the Board of Deputies Marie Van der Zyl said: ‘The BBC’s response has been extremely poor. Our community feels as if viewing figures have been prioritised over combatting hideous prejudice.
‘The Corporation should publicly apologise for its mishandling of this situation.’
Concerns about Dr Munaf were first raised by the Jewish News after Dr Munaf appeared on BBC show Dragon’s Den.
The former medic turned entrepreneur has also made a series of misogynistic videos on Instagram including one titled ‘Have you ever met a beautiful feminist?’ and another entitled ‘Don’t Trust What Women Say’.
In a resurfaced video he claimed there was ‘a real problem in the UK’ where women ‘absorb a lot of masculine ideals in terms of competitiveness and being blunt’.
The comments were made in September as part of the 34-year-olds Masculine Mastery series.