The BBC has landed itself in a new racism row after it used footage of the wrong Bollywood star in a 10 O’Clock News obituary.
Actor Shashi Kapoor died aged 79 on Monday, but the tribute to the star on the broadcaster’s flagship news programme mistakenly used footage of Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor.
It comes just days after BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour mixed up a Japanese doctor and a Vietnamese film maker.
The BBC said that Trinh T Minh-ha had mistakenly stood up when a junior member of the programme’s production team came into the waiting area and called for Dr Riko Muranaka, but listeners described the error as a “car crash”, with one suggesting that “perhaps all Asians look the same to the Woman’s Hour team”.
There was a similar backlash to the 10 O’Clock News mix-up, with viewers describing it as “shocking”.
Hang on @bbcnews Shashi Kapoor has died not Amitabh Bachan or Rishi Kapoor, who you've weirdly used to illustrate the story. pic.twitter.com/48jo6DGjU6
— Media Diversified (@WritersofColour) December 4, 2017
Actor Adil Ray, who stars in BBC comedy Citizen Khan, said it was “poor when it would have taken them seconds to verify”:
Someone at the BBC thought the brown person in this VT is the same person. Worse still neither of them are the deceased actor Huw refers to. It’s poor when it would have taken them seconds to verify. Not enough care. https://t.co/iFARRcqe19
— Adil Ray OBE (@adilray) December 4, 2017
Trishna Bharadia, a multiple sclerosis fundraiser and campaigner who appeared on the Comic Relief special The People’s Strictly on BBC1 in 2015, also expressed surprise at the mistake:
Did BBC News at 10 cover the Shashi Kapoor story but just showed footage of Amitabh Bhachan and Rishi Kapoor? I'm no Bollywood expert but that's what it looked like to me. My sister thought Amitabh had died as well!? 😳
— Trishna Bharadia (@TrishnaBharadia) December 4, 2017
I'm really annoyed about the BBC Shashi Kapoor thing. DOES ANYONE GIVE A DAMN? If you do, please tweet the editor @paulroyall
— Aasmah Mir (@AasmahMir) December 4, 2017
Shashi Kapoor was a megastar: the error of showing pictures of 2 other actors is appalling & insulting, particularly in the context of a story about death.
— Harini Iyengar (@Harini_Iyengar) December 5, 2017
Please give an apology on news at ten tomorrow with the right picture
— Azhar_Bihari (@azhar_bihari) December 5, 2017
BBC News at 10 editor Paul Royall apologised for the error in a statement on Twitter, saying the slip was not of the programme’s “usual standards”:
#BBCNewsTen is very sorry wrong images were used to mark the death of Shashi Kapoor. Not our usual standards and I apologise for any upset.
— Paul Royall (@paulroyall) December 4, 2017
Kapoor, a prolific Bollywood actor and producer from the 1970s and 80s, died after a long illness in Mumbai early on December 4.
He made his debut as a leading man in the 1961 film “Dharmputra” and went on to appear in more than 116 films.
Among his memorable films were Deewar, Kabhie Kabhie, Namak Halal and Kaala Pathar.
Source – www.telegraph.co.uk
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