The day Woman’s Hour turned sour
Guest storms out over host Emma’s off-air comments on ‘anti-Semitism’
NEW Woman’s Hour presenter Emma Barnett defended herself yesterday after being accused of humiliating a guest who pulled out of an interview.
On just her third day as host of the Radio 4 programme, Miss Barnett claimed she had been discussing offair past allegedly anti-Semitic comments by actress Kelechi Okafor.
Miss Okafor, who was due to talk about the MeToo movement, overheard the discussion and posted on social media that she was ‘coming off’ the programme ‘because what I’ve just had to witness is absolutely degrading and vile’.
She claimed Miss Barnett, not realising her microphone was on and guests could hear, was ‘talking s*** about me to the producers’. In a series of Twitter posts, the actress – who has appeared in
‘Known for robust journalism’
adverts for Samsung, Maltesers and Irn Bru as well as BBC reality series Special Forces: Ultimate Hell Week – wrote: ‘You can have a genuine concern about something you’ve been told about me and address it in a manner that is kind. That wasn’t what took place.’
Amid a growing row, Miss Barnett – who is Jewish and has spoken out against anti-Semitism – issued a statement on Twitter. She said the programme was marking the anniversary of the start of the trial which ended with Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein being jailed for sexual assault and rape, and it had come to her attention that Miss Okafor had in the past made allegedly antiSemitic comments.
In 2017 the actress came to the defence of BBC presenter Reggie Yates, who was dropped from Top Of The Pops for having praised grime stars for not being managed by ‘ some random fat Jewish guy from north-west London’. Yates subsequently apologised. Miss Okafor reportedly defended his comments in a since-deleted podcast, claiming Yates was ‘saying the truth’ and his comments were ‘not problematic’.
Miss Barnett said she had been sent a press report of what was said on the podcast.
With two minutes to the 10am airtime, Miss Okafor ‘overheard that chat on our open Zoom link’. She ‘directly talked’ to Miss Okafor about the claims and said the actress could give a response on the programme. But she ‘denied the allegations and hung up’.
Miss Barnett said that Woman’s Hour is ‘a wonderful platform known for its robust journalism’.
Miss Okafor hit back, saying Miss Barnett’s statement had missed out all the ‘expletives used about me while the mic was thought to be muted’.
The End Violence Against Women Coalition, whose director Sarah Green was also a guest on the programme, condemned the way Miss Okafor was treated.
A tweet said: ‘I heard the appalling treatment @kelechnekoff was subjected to... it was really unfair. Woman’s Hour should apologise to her and really must do better.’
Miss Barnett, 35, grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family but is not observant. She was the target of anti- Semitic abuse from some Corbyn supporters in 2017. She replaced Dame Jenni Murray and Jane Garvey as the main Woman’s Hour presenter on Monday.
The BBC s said Miss Barnett and her team had talked off-air about ‘how to reflect some of the guest’s alleged previous comments and the issue of anti-Semitism as part of the Woman’s Hour discussion on the role of minority voices in the MeToo movement. This was also raised directly with the guest before going on air.’