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GB News presenters and guests have been accused of circling the wagons to protect their colleague Nigel Farage from allegations that he engaged in racism and anti-semitic bullying towards Jewish and other ethnic minority peers while a teenager.
An analysis from the campaign group Stop Funding Hate has found several instances of GB News presenters and guests downplaying the allegations against Farage or even going as far as to insult the alleged victims of his teenage bullying.
Allegations of schoolboy racism against Farage are not new, with the claims recurring throughout his political career, however Farage has been under fire over recent more detailed allegations of anti-semitic bullying against his schoolmates for the last few weeks, following a Guardian report which included new testimony from the film director Peter Ettedgui.
Ettedgui alleged in the Guardian that Farage “would sidle up to me and growl: ‘Hitler was right,’ or ‘Gas them,’ sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas showers,” while they were both at Dulwich College in the 1970s. The Guardian reports that it has spoken to twenty people who recall racist and antisemitic remarks that he made during the ages of 13 and 18.
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Farage is a presenter on GB News and has pocketed £412,142 from his role at the broadcaster in the last year. Reacting to the allegations, GB News presenters and guests downplayed the allegations or insulted those making them, Stop Funding Hate found.
In an interview with Farage on 25 November, presenter and former MEP for the Farage-led Brexit Party, Martin Daubney stated: “the accusations of anti-semitism, isn’t it fair to point out that you’ve been a very vocal supporter of Israel and the Jewish community since October the 7th, 2023?”.
Following the interview Daubney then offered multiple defences of Farage. Responding to guest Jo Phillips highlighting inconsistencies in Farage’s responses to the scandal he stated: “He’s repeatedly said… it’s categorically untrue. We know Jo, he denied it yesterday. He denied it today. He’s denied it on camera tonight. If there was any substantiated evidence to corroborate these claims, surely it would have come to light by now. This is simply a case of one person’s recollections against another”.
While discussing the story with his guests Daubney also offered the defence that “didn’t anybody and everybody say racist things?”
The next day presenter Bev Turner also appeared to defend Farage stating: “Nigel said there, Katie, you know, this is politically motivated”. She suggested that the allegations were the result of “the uniparty” and collusion between the mainstream parties to attack Reform UK.
Turner then turned to her guest and said “when you watch this, Mally, do you think how ridiculous the British media is?”.
The defences of Farage by GB News presenters, who are also his colleagues, has prompted criticism of the broadcaster. Tom Chivers, a Research Associate in Media and Communications, at Goldsmiths University told Byline Times: “This is a shameless campaign by GB News to dismiss despicable anti-Jewish racism, circling the wagons to protect their idols at the heart of the UK’s right-wing media-political class. GB News’ failure to take antisemitism seriously is another disgraceful example of the channel’s built-in bigotry, shown time and time again with its attacks on Muslims, the LGBT community and other marginalised groups”.
Chivers added: “For years GB News has baselessly accused left-wing politicians, public figures and peaceful protestors of racism against Jewish people, twisting their opposition to genocide as antisemitic hatred. Yet as soon as a major right-wing politician and senior GB News presenter is credibly accused of vile antisemitic and racist remarks, GB News talking heads suddenly plead for context against the ‘politicisation’ of antisemitism.”
Regular GB News contributor and occasional guest host, the comedian Leo Kearse appeared to go even further and belittle Ettedgui. Kearse called Ettedgui’s testimony to the Guardian an attempt to “weaponise victimhood” before saying: “the way people are carrying on, like, ‘I was bullied at school! Oh, somebody called me a poo-poo head at school!’ Oh, come on! You’re 60 years old! Grow a pair! Like, you should obviously have been bullied more at school. You obviously needed it. We need to bring back bullying.”
Responding to the comments on GB News, Richard Wilson, director of Stop Funding Hate said: “GB News has already been criticised by Jewish community groups for platforming organisations that promote antisemitic conspiracy theories. Earlier this year the outlet was also called out by a leading Jewish organisation over antisemitic rhetoric on its YouTube channel.
