Iran has fired a new barrage of missiles at Israel, with several penetrating Israel’s air defences to hit Haifa. Footage of one of the successful missiles was captured from several angles:

A map of alerts in the region give an idea of the scale of the attack:

Iran fired a barrage of missiles into North Israel

— Resist 🕎🍉 (@antizionistjew.bsky.social) 2026-03-01T18:38:10.263Z

Locals report explosions in Haifa and the area

— Resist 🕎🍉 (@antizionistjew.bsky.social) 2026-03-01T18:41:58.381Z

Advertisement

Anadolu Agency reports:

At least five explosions were heard in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and surrounding areas following the launch of missiles from Iran toward Israel, an Anadolu correspondent reported Sunday evening.

A strong explosion was also heard in the northern city of Haifa, according to eyewitnesses.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported that sirens sounded in several areas in southern and eastern Israel after a new barrage of missiles was launched from Iran. Additional sirens were later activated in the northern parts of the country.

The barrage comes after the Zionist ‘state’ and the US murdered Iranian leader Ali Khamenei and his family – and slaughtered over 150 schoolgirls, of a total school population of 180, by bombing their school.

Featured image via the Canary

The US and Israel have been specifically targeting the homes of left-wing activists in Iran for bombing, according to well-known writer and journalist Tariq Ali. Ali, quoting Iranian sources, said that the rogue states are trying to ensure that there is no competition for their preferred puppet, US-based ‘shah’ Reza Pahlavi, if they succeed in bringing down Iran’s government:

[T]he US/Israelis are targeting a number of known leftists homes in Teheran and elsewhere in an attempt to make sure there’s no opposition to their favoured candidate once they destroy the regime. What this reveals is the degree of penetration by Mossad in Iran. What it also means is that this is not going to be an easy occupation for the US and its Israeli buddies.

Commenters disagreed with Ali for his closing assumption that there will be any occupation of Iran, easy or otherwise. It is to be hoped he is wrong on that and every likelihood he is.

But the US and Israel routinely target the homes and families of their victims. And given the Trump regime’s attacks on left figures in the US and South America, it’s entirely credible – indeed almost certain – that he will be doing the same in Iran in his criminal war.

Featured image via the Canary

Green party deputy leader Mothin Ali is among a handful of UK politicians to condemn the killing of Iranian leader Ali Khamenei as the illegal assassination that it was.

Mothin said that he is “proudly anti-war” and described the murder of Khamenei as “deplorable”:

I’m proudly anti-war. And to be anti-war that means looking to explore all possible diplomatic solutions. The US and Israel took a unilateral decision in the midst of negotiations to kill the Iranian leader, and opted for war. This is deplorable.

— Mothin Ali (@MothinAli) March 1, 2026

Green deputy leader goes where many won’t

Your Party MP Jeremy Corbyn condemned Israel and the US as rogue states and their attacks on Iran as illegal, but has not so far mentioned the Khamenei murder on his social media.

Green party leader Zack Polanski called for the UK government to condemn US president Donald Trump – a call that sent Zionist horror MP David Taylor into a hissy fit:

It should not be inconceivable to a Member of Parliament that by opposing the violation of international law you can also be advocating for the Iranian people.

How much more evidence does he need from past interventions to show that they can make things much, much worse? https://t.co/DCiataSPkC

— Matthew Butcher (@matthewtbutcher) March 1, 2026

And Polanski described Keir Starmer’s stance – condemning Iran for retaliating after being attacked – as “outrageous”:

.@ZackPolanski: “Its absolutely outrageous that they can be at the negotiating table & then our PM puts out a statement that actually condemns Iran for a retaliatory attack as opposed to Israel & America that started the bombing in the first place”🎯 pic.twitter.com/4QnNTGaDN8

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) March 1, 2026

Corbyn’s Your Party colleague Zarah Sultana was also outspoken, condemning Israel and the US for starting a war to cover for their “paedophilic crimes”. LIke Corbyn, however, she does not appear to have mentioned Khamenei directly yet.

The killing of Khamenei – along with his family, as so often the case in Israeli and US atrocities – is murder. So is the killing of the almost 150 Iranian schoolgirls and hundreds of other Iranians. Trump and Netanyahu are indeed trying to distract from their crimes and the world should be united against them – and calling their crimes what they are.

Featured image via the Canary

Welcome to The Canary Catch Up. Each Sunday, the Canary’s Rachel Charlton-Dailey will bring us bang up to date with the telly she’s been obsessed with, what she’s hate-watching, and what she can’t wait to get stuck into.

Warning- Spoilers for Bridgerton ahead!

Well, isn’t this exciting! The thing about me is I love ALL telly, there’s very little I won’t watch, to be honest. From a hard-hitting drama to Strictly, I’m there. That’s why I’m over the bloody moon to bring you the Canary Catch Up. Every Sunday, I’ll be here rounding up what I loved, things that I think you need to watch, and of course, the silly TV moments we couldn’t stop talking about.

Murky sewage scandal laid bare

Something that stopped me in my tracks this week was Dirty Business on Channel 4. The docudrama brought the sewage scandal, which destroyed our rivers and coastlands, whilst also risking many people’s health into stark focus. Channel 4 did an excellent job of holding the water companies and the regulators to blame. Showing just how much the latter was in the pockets of the former. But it also highlighted just how detrimental the scandal was for a lot of people personally, and also the cruelty of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

In one absolutely rage-inducing scene, Reuben, an ex-surfer, attempts to be assessed for Personal Independence Payments (PIP). Throughout his assessment, his distress is ignored. The assessor tells him to only focus on the days when he’s not having Ménière’s drop attacks. This is despite him pointing out that the attacks happen at least three times a week and that they leave him paralysed. As a disabled person, I sobbed when he failed his assessment and told the assessor, “I don’t know what to do.” This is such a raw look at how much the DWP is failing those with chronic illnesses; everyone needs to watch it.

Back to the Ton for Bridgerton series 4

Dearest gentle reader, as we head back to the Ton, this writer has many questions she needs answered. Why is Francesca so mad to see Michaela? Who is the new Lady Penwood? And most importantly, how the fuck did Benedict become obsessed with a woman he met at a party yet not realise she wasn’t white?

Yes, it’s back to  Netflix’s dazzling alternate reality Georgian drama where racism doesn’t exist, but also it does. I will admit I’m only on episode 2 so far, but I screamed my face off when we found out who the new lady Penwood is. Everyone’s fave villain, Cressida Cowper! The carriage scene might’ve been a highlight of last series for many, but mine was when this absolute queen showed up pretending to be Lady Whistledown to the soundtrack of Confident by Demi Lovato on strings.

BBC doing the DWP’s work for them, again

The BBC were full of disability hate this week. Alongside airing a man with tourette’s tics to cause division between marginalised communities, they also aired a benefits-hating Panorama. The title says it all, really: The Rising Cost of Health Benefits. As usual, the BBC presented this as concern for taxpayers when it was obviously another attempt to call disabled people scroungers. 

The show was packed to the rafters with murky think tanks like Iain Duncan Smith’s Centre for Social Justice and the Institute of Economic Affairs. Their faux concern was barely hiding their utter contempt for disabled people. There was, of course, the usual poor disabled person exploited for the cameras whilst the presenter, Bronagh Munroe, shat all over autism and ADHD. It was a massively transparent PR piece from the DWP.

Anyone for one last haunting?

Anyone who knows me knows that my favourite TV show EVER is the BBC’s Ghosts. I was left bereft in 2023 when the team announced they were done with the ridiculous spectres forever. But in fairness, I actually respected that they chose to end it before it got too tired. They closed the show off well, and there were no more stories to tell. Or so we thought.

It turns out there’s still one more haunting left. The team announced this week that Ghosts: The Possession of Button House starts filming next week. That’s right, we’re getting a Ghosts movie! I can’t even begin to explain my excitement for this one, lads. I cannot believe my emotional support, silly little dead people are coming back – and I will be so fucking seated for this film.

Featured image via the Canary

Zack Polanski joined Laura Kuensberg to discuss the war of aggression instigated by the US and Israel. An illegal war which has seen Iran’s Supreme Leader assassinated alongside his family. This comes in stark contrast to the shameful ignorance shown by other public figures in the UK with their reluctance to call out the flagrant breaches of international law on clear display.

Nevertheless, many have welcomed Polanski’s perspective supporting the suggestion that the Green Party leader is far more in tune with ordinary people across the UK than most of our elected MPs. Polanski made clear the woefully apparent cowardice shown by the British government. Akin to their ignorance of Israeli crimes, they refuse to stand up to Trump despite his and Netanyahu’s illegal military campaign. A war of aggression that has resulted in 148 schoolgirls murdered through western bombs being dropped on a primary school in Minab, a southern province in Iran.

The school reportedly sheltered 170 at the time, showing the deplorable lack of morality in mainstream media who have refused to discuss it. Whilst highlighting the sheer devastation being dealt by the West against Iranian civilians.

.@ZackPolanski: The US & Israel attack is illegal and unprovoked, the defence secretary & the govt won’t condemn it, we have a PM who is incapable of standing up to Trump, and the worry is that we’ll be pulled into another illegal war.

Spot on. pic.twitter.com/EGFSnu0v1s

Advertisement

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) March 1, 2026

How diplomacy should be done: with a spine

UK officials would be wise to watch Polanski’s interview with Kuenssberg. Specifically taking note of his principled stance and refusal to kowtow to the genocidal state Israel and thug-bully US. After all, this attack on Iran is illegal, unprovoked, and has directly afforded Iran the right to defend itself from attacks on its sovereign territory. It must not be forgotten that these attacks came — once again — as negotiations were ongoing, reaching agreement on issues that had never seen that progress before. Such as a commitment to stockpile limit of zero, making Iran’s capability of building nuclear bombs impossible.

Once again, this exposes the excuse of stopping Iran having a nuclear bomb as a load of hogwash. Instead, it appears to be constructed in a ‘deja-vu’ to Iraq to further the colonialist and imperialist agenda of Israel and the Epstein-compromised US President Trump.

Kuenssberg, like any loyal client journalist to the establishment, refused to acknowledge that retaliatory strikes are a legal right under international law. On the contrary, she firmly lays all blame on Iran for threats to military bases in the region. Both the victim and the aggressor apparently:

.@ZackPolanski says the PM should condemn the strikes by the US/Israel as illegal & unprovoked#bbclaurak: but what about Irans retaliatory strikes, you’re not calling on them to de-escalate

Doesn’t LK know what retaliation means? Of course she does. Shes just doing her job pic.twitter.com/EI4flhG3gT

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) March 1, 2026

Zack Polanski astutely exposed just how ridiculous that wilful ignorance is:

.@ZackPolanski: “Its absolutely outrageous that they can be at the negotiating table & then our PM puts out a statement that actually condemns Iran for a retaliatory attack as opposed to Israel & America that started the bombing in the first place”🎯 pic.twitter.com/4QnNTGaDN8

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) March 1, 2026

Advertisement

Zack Polanski highlighted the fact that there is only one country in the region who has nuclear bombs. Making clear who she works for, Kuenssberg defends Israel as the only ‘democracy’:

.@ZackPolanski: “There is only one [country] in that area with a nuclear weapon, and that’s Israel”#bbclaurak: “but there is also only one democracy..”

Kuenssberg is defending a genocidal apartheid state that denies millions of people under its control their basic civic rights pic.twitter.com/AXwO15fMMK

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) March 1, 2026

This shouldn’t really need to be pointed out by Polanski, but recollection seems short lived in the West and common sense is second to self interest:

.@ZackPolanski: “I do know that there’s no example in history where you’ve bombed people to democracy.. airstrikes for regime change has never led [to] an example where a country is better off afterwards” 🎯 pic.twitter.com/03CojFCHVw

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) March 1, 2026

Justice must be necessary, not optional

The illegal war on Iraq killing millions is widely condemned. In fact, it is now widely recognised as having been instigated based on fearmongering lies and manipulations from US President Bush. However, the very fact that no one has been held responsible has long been a stain on our international rules-based order.

For instance, war criminal Tony Blair is seemingly protected from accountability under international law in the International Criminal Court (ICC), having never answered for his crimes against humanity. Instead, he was championed to sit on Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ painfully exposing the sham that that is.

Our own Joe Glenton wrote last year on the interconnected realities between Iraq and Israel’s genocide on Gaza. It is highly likely that Iran will soon be joining this list of victimised, terrorised sovereign states that never seem to see accountability. Joe Glenton wrote:

Now imagine a world in which Tony Blair simply never got a platform to advance his grandiose, yet inevitably ridiculous takes?

And imagine a world where the core values of Blairism – embodied today in the Magic Bank Manager Keir Starmer – had been consigned to the dustbin of history.

Sounds alright, doesn’t it?

Well one of the reasons that world doesn’t exist is that nobody was ever remotely held to account over the Iraq War.

The legacy media is a part of this. We shouldn’t be surprised that an industry dominated by Russell Group-educated Professional Managerial Class (PMC) losers would help recondition figures who represent their own values and ambitions.

Advertisement

Glenton was bang on and the theory is ongoing. If war criminals weren’t protected by power, with the rule of law having teeth of its own, our leaders would feel more uncomfortable about their prior, current and ongoing complicity in US-Israeli aggressions.

Nevertheless, it’s clear western leaders are less bothered about silly objective issues of legality. Instead, they have long been far more interested in keeping the big orange paedo-pal in the US happy. Zarah Sultana gave a damning rebuke to Tory Tom Tugendhat, the former security minister:

Tom, it’s interesting that you present yourself as the sole defender of Iranian lives when your record says otherwise:

You sit on the advisory board of United Against Nuclear Iran, a lobby group that supports punitive sanctions that hurt ordinary Iranians and has backed calls… https://t.co/7HVKVmqmfY

— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) March 1, 2026

Advertisement

Her damning takedown of Tugendhat reads in full:

Tom, it’s interesting that you present yourself as the sole defender of Iranian lives when your record says otherwise:

You sit on the advisory board of United Against Nuclear Iran, a lobby group that supports punitive sanctions that hurt ordinary Iranians and has backed calls for US military action against Iran.

You’ve been paid by pro-Israel networks like YPO United Mosaic.

You criticised the UN Security Council for condemning illegal Israeli settlement expansion.

Advertisement

You described your participation in the illegal 2003 invasion of Iraq, which resulted in the deaths of over a million Iraqis, as “the naughtiest thing I have ever done.”

You condemned the “betrayal” of Afghanistan when Western forces withdrew in 2021, yet consistently supported the interventionist policies that helped produce that disaster.

Your government wanted to deny Iranian refugees the right to claim asylum in the UK and ship them to Rwanda.

And I’m still looking for your condemnation of Israel’s targeted strike on a girls’ school that killed over 100 Iranian children.

Advertisement

When you mount an attack, you need someone to watch your back.

Healey makes clear that this is Britain’s role – guarding the rear, while Israel and America go on a killing spree.

We are actively participating in an illegal, regime-change war – yet again. https://t.co/q4KpNjjZdK

— Steve Howell (@FromSteveHowell) March 1, 2026

Journalist Richard Sanders also exposed this double standard in a post on X, highlighting the selective nature of western condemnation:

The killing of dozens of girls at a primary school in Iran is not on the front page of a single British newspaper.

A simple test – imagine the reaction if they were Israelis.https://t.co/jvdHrLEMlB

— Richard Sanders (@PulaRJS) March 1, 2026

Mark Curtis of Declassified UK applauded Polanski’s ‘principled position’ on foreign policy, before warning that the threat he poses to the establishment will face concerted efforts to sabotage him as a result:

Many of Polanski’s positions on UK foreign policy are decent/principled and therefore a threat to the UK oligarchy. He’ll obviously be increasingly subject to the same kind of media campaign that helped remove J.Corbyn in 2015-19. We must monitor and raise awareness of it. https://t.co/RrUhAkOyR7

— Mark Curtis (@markcurtis30) March 1, 2026

Advertisement

Zack Polanski — potential future Prime Minister?

The principle and courage on show from Polanski to speak truth to power and put the interests of the majority over the interests of the powerful is earning respect across the country. It seems where other MPs choose to earn the favour of the US President, Polanski prefers to put the British public first.

In contrast to Starmer and the government’s abysmal approval ratings and failure to ‘read the room’ amongst the electorate, Polanski’s consistent show of principle is now earning calls for him to be PM.

With the recent astounding and overwhelming victory of the Green Party in Gorton and Denton, this might just be a glimpse of the future:

The Prime Minister this country needs: https://t.co/EHsHKZpKRj

— Sharmen Rahman (@sharmen_r) March 1, 2026

Advertisement

Featured image via the Canary

Both Hillary and Bill Clinton have now given testimony before a congressional panel looking into the crimes of serial child rapist Jeffrey Epstein. Despite the clintons’ frequent meetings with the vile Zionist billionaire, they both seem to have developed selective amnesia about their interactions with him. The former president said in his opening remarks:

You’ll often hear me say that I don’t recall. That might be unsatisfying. But I’m not going to say something I’m not sure of. This was all a long time ago. And I am bound by my oath not to speculate, or to guess.

This inability to recall is surprising, given what a significant role Epstein played in the lives of the Clintons. Earlier in the week, Hillary:

…confirmed that Epstein visited the White House 17 times – as suggested in the presidential mansion’s visitor records – during her husband’s presidency and had flown at least 27 times on the Epstein plane, which was nicknamed the “Lolita express”.

Clinton released a statement after he gave testimony, one that closely resembled his opening remarks to the panel. In it, the 42nd US president dishonestly described his dealings with Epstein as “limited interactions” and said he:

…never witnessed…any indication of what was truly going on…

Clintons forget, but remember they’re definitely innocent

Clinton offered a strange combination of recollection failures, alongside total certainty about his innocence, saying:

First, I had no idea of the crimes Epstein was committing. No matter how many photos they show of me, I have two things that at the end of the day matter far more than any interpretation of 20-year-old photos. I know what I saw and more importantly what I didn’t see. And I know what I did and more importantly what I didn’t do. I saw nothing and did nothing wrong.

Clinton featured in numerous suspicious photos among the Epstein files, including one of him in a hot tub with a person who appears to be a young girl or woman. Her face is blacked out in the file release. Another features Clinton with a young girl/woman on his lap. Again her identity has been protected.

In the statement, Clinton went on to defend his wife Hillary’s memory loss, saying:

She has no memory of ever even meeting him. She neither travelled with him nor visited any of his properties.

The Clintons seemingly did cut ties with Epstein after his 2008 conviction for procuring a child for prostitution, but remained close to his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. She was honoured by the Clinton Global Initiative in 2013 and attended their daughter Chelsea’s wedding in 2010.

Both Clintons attempted to pass off their testimony as a service to their country, rather than the reality, which is that they would have faced prosecution for failing to appear. They had previously attempted to dodge scrutiny. Bill Clinton opined:

I [testified] for two reasons. First, I love my country, including our Constitution. And America was built on the idea that no person is above the law, even presidents, especially presidents, and that we should all live under the same set of rules. This kind of democracy requires every person to play their part.

And I hope that by being there today, we can bring ourselves just a little further away from the brink and back to being a country where we can disagree civilly and we can search for truth and justice and that it outweighs the partisan urge to score points and create spectacle.

No accountability, no justice for the victims

In reality, every US president has operated beyond the law. Clinton ought to be in the Hague for his crimes against the people of Iraq. Hillary is a similarly vile figure, a backer of so-called ‘Israel’s’ holocaust in Gaza. She too engaged in self-aggrandising rhetoric, concluding her opening statement by saying:

My challenge to you, Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, is the same challenge I put to myself throughout my long service to this nation. How to be worthy of the trust the American people have given you. They expect statesmanship, not gamesmanship. Leading, not grandstanding. They expect you to use your power to get to the truth and to do more to help survivors of Epstein’s crimes as well as the millions more who are victims of sex trafficking.

This was a reference to the committee’s failure thus far to call before it the current criminal occupant of the White House, Donald Trump.  This is a fair point, as Trump is accused of multiple child rapes in the file release. Other documents related to the thug currently wrecking Iran are missing from the files released by the Department of Justice.

Trump’s non-appearance and his atrocities in Iran are yet further indications of the near total absence of accountability for powerful criminals, leaving the same sort of impunity that allowed Epstein to conduct his crimes in the first place.

Featured image via people.com

Israel has targeted the Iranian Red Crescent Headquarters in Tehran, which is a clear and direct attempt to assassinate healthcare workers.

BREAKING: Israel Just Targeted The Iranian Red Crescent Headquarters In Tehran

A clear direct assault on medical workers.

More attacks on civilian targets. Which indicates weakness as well as immorality. pic.twitter.com/AnUvGlAE1L

— Robert Inlakesh (@falasteen47) March 1, 2026

Advertisement

Once again, Israel is breaking international law.

Schools, hospitals, ambulances, emergency workers, and journalists are all off-limits under international law.

Schools, hospitals, humanitarian institutions, journalists, doctors, women, children: these are always going to be the targets of genocidal zionists

— Tasneem Essop (@TasneemEssop) March 1, 2026

To truly fathom how EVIL Israel is, note that it has been a universal law of warfare that attacking hospitals, aid workers, journalists, children, and schools is forbidden – for obvious moral reasons.

But Israel goes out of its way to attack these entities. Every. Single. Time. https://t.co/baJC9kMucr

Advertisement

— Dani Fethez (@DaniMet1) March 1, 2026

But hey, so is military occupation, unprovoked attacks and apartheid. Yet the world has let Israel get away with all of it.

What the world allowed in Palestine will come to everyone. Israel is a cancer. https://t.co/ZkQzRPrzwy

— fatima bhutto 🇵🇸🇱🇧🇮🇷 (@fbhutto) March 1, 2026

Israel — Cry babies

But as we have seen previously, as soon as bombs start dropping near Israeli soldiers, they run away crying like babies.

In South Lebanon in October 2024, Israeli soldiers ran from bombs whilst sobbing and holding hands. Israelis make themselves out to be these big, tough men. But when Iran drops a couple of bombs and turns the tables, they’re really not.

DAWG HE DEAD ASS SOBBING IM FUCKFOFNFF LMAODOEOSODKSKSJDDJD 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 https://t.co/9d4QHlRmzO

— ⋆ab ྐ❤︎ (@itgirlab) March 1, 2026

Israel crosses every red line known to man. But when Iran hits back, it shows less composure than Boris Johnson does when being interviewed by Piers Morgan.

Israel:

First attacks another nation under a pack of lies.

Advertisement

Then bombs schools.

Then bombs hospitals.

Then cries victim. https://t.co/39agZSayqQ

— Daniel Lambert (@dlLambo) March 1, 2026

Advertisement

You might think it was the IDF’s first time fighting fully grown adults.

When your opponent is not a 2 year old toddler. https://t.co/RQUl4nFe3R

— Its_Isra💫🍉 (@Isra44945572) March 1, 2026

Israel is so used to bombing 9-year-olds with stones that it forgot that millions of people do, in fact, hate its guts. And just a few of those people happen to have large bombs.

What a shame.

Is bro sobbing???? This is sooooo embarrassing omg.
Bravery flew right out the window when the enemy is suddenly not a 9 year old with stones eh? https://t.co/SM93kQTOPs

— Spooky Pookie🧛👻🎃🦇 (@Lanaschild_) March 1, 2026

Israel’s only military strategy is terrorism.

It’s Israel’s only strategy: to deinstitutionalize.

Bomb schools, hospitals, restaurants, homes. Punish and humiliate civilians. Force collapse.

In 1982 Israel started a war with Lebanon by bombing a Red Crescent hospital. And lost, of course.

Advertisement

Israel knows no strategic… https://t.co/8Uog6ILmhg

— Rathbone (@_rathbone) March 1, 2026

No sympathy

But 82% of Israelis support expelling Palestinians from their homeland. That’s 82% of Israelis who support literal ethnic cleansing, which makes it extremely difficult to find a single shred of sympathy when bombs start falling over Tel Aviv.

I don’t want to hear any thing about Israelis crying victim. We all sick of it..

U wanted war, u got one https://t.co/oF6NpP6uOw

Advertisement

— Abier (@abierkhatib) February 28, 2026

The international community has practically given Israel the green light to do whatever the fuck it wants by standing idly by for two and a half years. Israel’s evil has no limits. And we are going to see it time and time again until the international community grows a backbone.

Feature image via Robert Inlakesh/X

The cast of Sinners has called out the BAFTAs and BBC for exploiting a man’s disability whilst also blindsiding black presenters and audience members.

“You want to celebrate our art, but you won’t protect it.” – Jayme Lawson calls out the #BAFTAs slip up at the #NAACPImageAwards pic.twitter.com/y19yOIMfrk

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 1, 2026

Last week, the BBC made the ridiculous editorial decision to broadcast an involuntary, racist slur by John Davidson, a white man with Tourette’s. Of course, that resulted in widespread upset and huge increases in racism.

It also sparked heated animosity between Black and disabled communities in the UK. But that is probably precisely what the BBC intended.

The Canary’s Maddison Wheeldon previously reported that:

the BBC seemingly reassured executives from Warner Bros it would not broadcast the slur.

She added:

the BBC may have deliberately left this offensive incident in the cut. This carries considerable weight given the absence of other inappropriate slurs that came as a result of Davidson’s tics.

BBC — Exploitation, not inclusivity

We have to question why production companies, movie producers, and even media outlets (I’m looking at you, BBC) are not providing the necessary resources to keep people from diverse backgrounds and with varied lived experiences safe. 

“Just because you invite someone into a space but you don’t provide the necessary resources to keep them and everyone else in that room safe, by them being there, that’s not inclusivity. That’s exploitation.”

Hrtwt, we’ll talk about this tomorrow. https://t.co/fiaeYsAHYz

Advertisement

— beygala (@HintonsDrew) March 1, 2026

It’s nothing short of exploitation when they fail to do that.

Jayme Lawson absolutely said the right thing: a man with Tourette’s was exploited.

Assuming the censoring of many elements was done by BAFTA, allegedly, they used John Davidson’s random outburst to create division and needlessly.

Many people agreed Mr. Davidson is not at…

Advertisement

— Long Tran (@longttran) March 1, 2026

The BBC were able to censor homophobia. So why couldn’t they muster up enough energy between the whole production team to censor deeply offensive and oppressive, racist language?

I did NAWT expect her to come for blood like that but I’m glad she called out the BAFTAs exploited that mans disability and then blindside the black audience while simultaneously choosing to edit out other things. https://t.co/iZVP7AddkZ

— El Mago (@AtlantisFell) March 1, 2026

Jayme Lawson was putting the blame where it belongs, with the BAFTAs and BBC.

Listen to her and listen to her deeply. It was always the BAFTAS fault. https://t.co/je8WgA0NhY

— 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚠𝚜𝚎 𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚛🦇 (@BrowseHorror) March 1, 2026

Lawson also called out both organisations for censoring Akinola Davies Jr. She called for a Free Palestine during her speech.

I love that Jayme Lawson just called out the BAFTAs and BBC for censoring Akinola Davies Jr.’s “Free Palestine” speech https://t.co/A03j73iSvn

— Ahmed Hathout 🇵🇸 (@ahmedhathoutt) March 1, 2026

It’s funny how the BBC remembered to censor that one, isn’t it?

not only is she calling out the BAFTAS for the exploitation, she’s calling out those trying to put John Davidson’s comfort over Michael and Del Roy’s. https://t.co/R4Dbe5z65w

— helena (@wannabespiced) March 1, 2026

What John Davidson did was not his fault. However, that does not omit the harm that his words caused to black people.

what john davidson did was involuntary, he feels awful and i hope he’s okay, but 98% of those advocating on his behalf, have been belittling michael and del roy’s embarrassment/humiliation at what they experienced to uplift john at this time, and you are 100% foul for that.

— helena (@wannabespiced) March 1, 2026

Additionally, speaking about the ableism that the BAFTAs have shone a light on makes zero sense as a standalone issue. Unless you’re going to also speak out about the harm black people faced in hearing those words, and the racist backlash they have then faced for speaking out about said harm. Because the issue here is the BBC exploiting one issue to stir up another.

you condemn those speaking of tourette’s in a negative matter and stay silent about the rampant racism this event has unleashed, because it makes you uncomfortable to realize you aren’t as nuanced as you believed you were.

— helena (@wannabespiced) March 1, 2026

But it all seems to be a game to the BBC. Do the bosses care about anything more than clicks and views?

Clearly, the British public service broadcaster places more value on causing an absolute shitstorm of racism by exploiting a man’s disability than it does on keeping their presenters and viewers safe. So why are they still getting the license fee?

As Jayme Lawson said so perfectly:

You want to celebrate our art, but you won’t protect it.

Feature image via BETNetworks/ YouTube