BBC radio presenter Sideman has quit his job after the corporation defended its decision to broadcast the N-word in a television news broadcast. The Radio 1Xtra presenter said he no longer felt comfortable working for the national broadcaster after it stuck by the decision to broadcast the language in a report on a racially motivated hit-and-run attack.
The report, by the BBC social affairs correspondent Fiona Lamdin, repeated the language allegedly shouted during the attack on a young black man in Bristol. The BBC has defended its decision, saying the inclusion of the racial slur was made with the approval of the victim and his family, who wanted to show the severity of the attack. They said the decision to broadcast the word followed discussions involving “senior editorial figures” and was preceded by a warning to viewers.