BBC director-general Lord Hall has reversed a decision to partially uphold a complaint against presenter Naga Munchetty, who had come under fire for comments made on-air about a tweet authored by US President Donald Trump telling four congresswomen of colour "to go back" where they came from.
According to the BBC, Lord Hall told staff he had "personally" reviewed the decision of the complaints unit. The organisation had said last week that it would be partially upholding the complaint as the comments "went beyond what the guidelines allow for".
"I have looked carefully at all the arguments that have been made and assessed all of the materials," Lord Hall reportedly said in an email to staff on Tuesday.
"I don't think Naga's words were sufficient to merit a partial uphold of the complaint around the comments she made ... There was never any sanction against Naga and I hope this step makes that absolutely clear."
Ms Munchetty made the controversial comments during the BBC's breakfast program in response to the tweet targetting Democratic politicians Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib.
"Why don't they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came," Mr Trump wrote on Twitter on 14 July.
Discussing the implications of the tweet, Ms Munchetty said: "Every time I have been told, as a woman of colour, to go back to where I came from, that was embedded in racism."
"Now I'm not accusing anyone of anything here, but you know what certain phrases mean," she added, explaining that she was "furious" about the comment.
The reversal comes after 44 black actors and journalists signed an open letter calling on the BBC to overturn the decision and arguing that "racism is not a valid opinion on which an 'impartial' stance can or should be maintained".
"While we stand in support of Munchetty, the consequences of this decision are widespread with implications for the entire media landscape in the UK and those who work within it," the letter, published on Friday, continued.
Ms Munchetty had also received widespread support on social media under the hashtag #IStandWithNaga.
Prior to the reversal, UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn tweeted on Thursday that the BBC presenter had "stated a fact" when she made the comments in question.
"She shared experiences of racism she's suffered. That can’t be at odds with any editorial guidelines," he said. "The BBC must explain this astonishing decision."
Days later, more than 100 MPs also signed a letter addressed to Lord Hall requesting a meeting to discuss the decision to uphold the complaint, describing Munchetty's contribution to the discussion as "insightful and informative".
