The publicly-funded British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is under fire after choosing to describe celebrity murderer Phil Spector as merely a “talented but flawed producer” in the headline of a report on his death in prison.
The record producer and musician died aged 81 while still serving his sentence for shooting and killing actress Lana Clarkson, 40, in 2003.
The BBC, already facing growing public anger over its perceived left-liber and anti-Brexit bias, was pilloried on social media for its decision to rather gloss over the murder in the headline of its report on his death.
“Talented but flawed painter annexes Sudetenland”, quipped one social user in reference to Adolf Hitler — one of many to offer BBC-style mock headlines reporting on the doings and deaths of figures who might be considered something more than “flawed”.
“Talented but flawed GP Harold Shipman,” offered sports writer Tom Williams, in reference to the prolific British serial killer.
“Talented but flawed builder Fred West,” was another common suggestion, in reference to a particularly notorious murderer who killed alongside his wife Rose.
“Talented but flawed TV presenter Jimmy Savile,” was another — a particularly stinging rebuke for the BBC, which nurtured the DJ now known to have been a prolific sexual predator, whose activities were an open secret but never seriously tackled by anyone in his industry or the authorities prior to his death.
Anyone in Britain who watches live television programming or BBC content on-demand is required to pay for the BBC via a compulsory licence fee, or else face fines which must be paid on pain of imprisonment.
Over-75s were formerly exempt from paying the licence fee, but it has now been imposed on them, with handful exemptions, with the public broadcaster pleading poverty.
The BBC has been spending this money on, among other things, a £75,000 a year salary for “white privilege” evangelist June Sarpong to work a three-day week as “director of creative diversity, helping to decide how a BLM-inspired a £100 million fund to produce more “diverse and inclusive content” — despite ethnic and sexual minorities already being massively overrepresented at the broadcaster relative.
Such decisions have helped to strengthen the growing #DefundTheBBC campaign and movement, backed by people who believe it is more woke Death Star than impartial public service broadcaster.