Beeb’s Beattie hit by 104 complaints after stab maniac shooting by cops
Question ‘offensive and biased against police’
THE BBC received more than 100 complaints about “offensive” comments made by presenter John Beattie on the police response to an asylum seeker who stabbed six people at a Glasgow hotel.
The radio host asked SNP MP Alison Thewliss if the police had questions to answer “given that a white policeman shoots dead a black man carrying a knife in Glasgow”.
The report on Radio Scotland’s Drivetime show led to 104 complaints to the Beeb from people who said the question was offensive and biased against police.
Beattie was speaking three days after Sudanese man Badreddin Abdalla Adam, 28, was shot dead by police after the stabbings on June 26 at the Park Inn Hotel wounded PC David Whyte, two hotel workers and three fellow
asylum seekers. The former rugby player was forced to issue an on-air apology after bosses ruled the question was inappropriate and based on speculation.
The corporation has now revealed that the broadcast was one of the most complained about items on its television and radio channels last month.
The BBC said: “We received complaints about a question by John Beattie regarding the stabbings at the Park Inn hotel in Glasgow. We acknowledge that the line of questioning, asking if the police had anything to answer ‘given that a white policeman shoots dead a black man carrying a knife in Glasgow’, wasn’t appropriate to the discussion that evening and was based on speculation.”
In his apology, broadcast on June 30, Beattie said: “I apologise for this question being asked. It was speculation on our part and not an appropriate line of questioning.
“As a team, we’ve talked about it and we offer this apology to the police officers of Scotland.”