Donald Trump‘s $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC is having a chilling effect on output relating to the U.S. president, according to the producer of Have I Got News For You.
Jimmy Mulville, the Hat Trick Productions founder, has claimed that the BBC is “nervous” that Trump will accuse the UK broadcaster of malice if he is upset by jokes on its iconic topical comedy show.
Mulville, who has been making Have I Got News For You for more than a quarter of a century, urged the BBC to remain calm in the face of threats from Trump.
“They are more nervous about us making jokes about Donald Trump [since the legal action],” he said on Insiders: The TV Podcast.
“The BBC is ultimately a very reasonable organization, so you can have conversations with them. They don’t tell you what to do, but I detect that they’re making a thing of it, and I just wish they would see it through a more common sense POV.”
Mulville argued that the BBC can’t pay Trump public money to settle the lawsuit, which the president is pursuing after the corporation misleadingly edited his January 6 speech in a Panorama documentary.
He argued that Andy Burnham, the UK’s new prime minister, would win public support for stepping in and standing up against Trump. “I think Trump’s on a losing wicket,” Mulville said. “I just wish the BBC would see it, and calm the f*** down about it.”
The BBC has been approached for comment.
On the same episode, Mulville joked that David Ellison and his family had “bought an apartment up Trump’s ass a long, long time ago, and that’s where they live” as they attempt to close Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. Mulville also produces a U.S. version of Have I Got News For You for CNN, which will come under Ellison’s control if Paramount completes the merger.
