Paul Cox says the BBC has a ‘terrible track record’ as he reacts to £400,000 payout received by Jewish documentary filmmaker
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The BBC has forked out £400,000 to a Jewish filmmaker who claims she was bullied out of the broadcaster by anti-Semites.
Lucie Kon, whose BBC work has been awarded an Emmy and an Oscar, says in the wake of the horrific October 7 attacks, she was targeted by colleagues who said Zionists such as her were “evil”.
The 57-year-old filmmaker said she was told that “if you want to call Hamas terrorists then you have to call Israel terrorists, too” and that she should “think about what drove Hamas to do what they did”.
But when she formally complained about how she was being treated, the broadcaster told her to stay at home, sidelined her, and eventually put her out of work.
She then triggered unfair dismissal proceedings against the BBC, which agreed to pay a partially licence-payer-funded fee without admitting liability.
She told The Telegraph her religion was not an issue for the first 22 years of her BBC career.
But after the October 7 attacks, the attitude colleagues had to her changed.
“It was like having Jew stamped on my forehead,” she said.
She claimed that she pitched an idea for a documentary on the attacks – which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians – but was told not to oversee the project because, as a Jew, she was “too partial”.
In another instance, she claimed colleagues told her a programme about the murder of Israeli civilians at a music festival should “contextualise” the attack and empathise with what had caused Hamas to carry it out.
An internal BBC investigation did not uphold Ms Kon’s grievances of anti-Semitism.
She said: “I think I became a problem. I think I made too much noise about being a Jew inside the BBC.
“I stood up for my community. I was open about being a Zionist.
“The BBC says, ‘bring your authentic self to work’. And I did. And I lost my job as a result.”
The BBC carried out a restructuring after her complaints. Her role was made redundant, and she was not hired for a similar position that replaced it.
Ms Kon worked on programmes including Panorma, Today, BBC Breakfast and Storyville while at the BBC.
She was an executive producer of the Oscar-winning documentary Mr Nobody Against Putin, which revealed the scale of Russian indoctrination in its education system, and served the same role for Emmy-winning We Will Dance Again, which combines interviews with social media footage to reconstruct the horror of the October 7 attacks.
Tim Davie, who resigned after controversies including the broadcast of Bob Vylan’s controversial remarks and the production of a documentary narrated by the son of a senior Hamas official, instituted a “Call it Out” campaign to encourage employees of the broadcaster to report racism and abuse.
Ms Kon said she was treated as the victim after doing so.
Other Jewish members of staff at the BBC feel the same way, she claimed.
She said: “I know that nothing’s changed because I’ve spoken to quite a few people since I left.
“Friends who are still struggling, still suffering, who feel embarrassed to say that they’re Zionist or that they’re a Jew.”
A BBC spokesman said: “While we do not comment on individual staffing matters, anti-Semitism in any form is not tolerated at the BBC.
“If allegations or concerns are raised, they are taken seriously and investigated in accordance with our policies.
“We have robust procedures in place to deal with any behaviour that is contrary to our values.”
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