A new low for BBC ‘journalism’ came yesterday as Britain’s public broadcaster tried to interview a known ISIS fighter on Twitter about the Robin Williams film Jumanji.
Setting aside that using the death of Robin Williams to try and open a channel with a jihadist is a new low for the organisation, it doesn’t even look like the BBC producer got his scoop.
The account ‘Mujahid4Life’ on Twitter belongs to a British man who goes by the name of Abdullah, who often reports favourably about ISIS’s wars in Iraq and Syria. He is thought to now be based in the region.
But the BBC had other designs on Abdullah following a tweet about the Robin Williams hit film.
Producer Sam Judah tweeted at him: “Hello, would you be happy to speak to BBC News about Jumanji?”
— Sam Judah (@samjudah) August 12, 2014
" layout="responsive" width="600" height="480">Twitter users were equally as perplexed as I was:
— Michelle Lewis (@michelle0728) August 12, 2014
" layout="responsive" width="600" height="480">— Patrick Smith (@psmith) August 12, 2014
" layout="responsive" width="600" height="480">— dsic (@dsic) August 12, 2014
" layout="responsive" width="600" height="480">Even Abdullah and one of his friends were confused…
— Abdullah (@mujahid4life) August 12, 2014
" layout="responsive" width="600" height="480">— jihad war tracker (@jihadwartracker) August 12, 2014
" layout="responsive" width="600" height="480">— Abdullah (@mujahid4life) August 12, 2014
" layout="responsive" width="600" height="480">Though the Mujahid4Life account was initially flattering about Robin Williams, the Daily Mail notes that this swiftly turned to anger when Abdullah found out that Williams had mocked jihadists and their 72-virgins claim during a stand-up performance.
Abdullah wrote: “Those that say “RIP” to #RobinWilliams check out what he had to say about Islam…May Allah make him burn.”