Dan Walker, 42, and Naga Munchetty, 45, often host BBC Breakfast together on most weekday mornings, with the pair discussing topical matters including the global headlines. In one broadcast on July 17, 2019, the latter offered her personal opinion about a tweet which had been posted President Donald Trump which insinuated four congresswoman of colour should “go back” to “places from which they came”. The BBC ended up taking action over the matter, with the Executive Complaints Unit ruling the presenter had “breached” editorial guidelines. Her co-star has now offered his take on the situation and has slammed the broadcaster for not defending the journalist.

Although this was the initial action taken, a huge backlash from several high profile celebrities and BBC staff members meant Director General Lord Tony Hall, 69, overturned the decision given by the ECU.

The response Munchetty gave to President Trump’s tweet was as a result of her own life experiences as a woman of colour, telling her co-star and viewers: “Every time I have been told, as a woman of colour, to go back to where I came from, that was embedded in racism.

“Now I’m not accusing anyone of anything here, but you know what certain phrases mean,” she continued, which caused a huge outcry from viewers.

Walker has now given his take on the action taken against his co-host by the BBC, as his comments were also raised in the complaint but he was not issued a formal warning.

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The presenter told Radio Times he “didn’t regret” the comments he made and expressed he didn’t think his co-star did either.

However, he wasn’t too happy with the lack of defence the broadcaster gave his colleague, explaining: “The BBC should have given a more robust defence of their presenters.

“We do think it could have been dealt with very differently. It was the right decision to overturn the original finding, but it didn’t need to get that far.”

Walker went on to admit he and Munchetty knew they were near to crossing the line, but didn’t say enough to result in “censuring”.

Could have been dealt with very differently

Dan Walker

Munchetty has since received an apology Walker explained, but he hasn’t, telling the publication: “That’s for someone else to decide.”

Following the initial ruling, a spokesperson for the ECU said: “While Ms Munchetty was entitled to give a personal response to the phrase ‘go back to your own country’ as it was rooted in her own experience, overall her comments went beyond what the guidelines allow for.”

However, Lord Hall thought otherwise and after the backlash following the BBC’s decision, he decided to “personally” review the action taken.

As a result, he explained Munchetty hadn’t crossed the line and stated her comments were not “sufficient to merit a partial uphold.”

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Munchetty has herself spoken out about the controversial comments during an interview with British Vogue earlier this year.

The presenter defended her own position, explaining: “One of the balancing acts of being a Breakfast presenter is being comfortable enough to show who you are and your personality.

“You have to show empathy. You cannot sit there and be a robot on that sofa,” she continued, going on to add she did “stand by” her views.

“It is not OK to use offensive language, or to skirt around offensive language, to make a point or get attention.”

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After the initial ruling was given back in September, Munchetty was off the air for a few weeks before making her return at the start of October.

The host joined Charlie Stayt, 57, for her first appearance since making the headlines, but neither addressed the news of her absence.

It wasn’t until the next day when a guest stated her defence of the presenter was the issue raised on the show.

Amrou Al-Kadhi told the journalist: “All people of colour were standing alongside you the past week. Us sisters have to stick together and it is never ever biased to call out racism.”

BBC Breakfast airs weekdays at 6am on BBC One.

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