BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty speaks out about racism

BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty has revealed she spoke out in the Donald Trump racism row because her parents had been abused because of their ethnicity while working in as nurses London.  

The 44-year-old journalist told Vogue magazine how as a young girl she had witnessed the impact racism had on her parents who moved to Britain in 1971. 

She said: ‘My mum has been told, “You P*** bitch, get your hands off me,” when she’s cleaning someone. My dad has been told the same thing. When their cleaning someone’s a***. A racist person’s a***.’ 

Ms Munchetty provoked outrage in July when she responded to a Tweet by US president Donald Trump by saying: ‘Every time I have been told, as a woman of colour, to go back to where I came from, that was embedded in racism. I’m not accusing anyone of anything here, but you know what certain phrases mean.’ 

Her father, from Mauritius and her mother, Muthu, who is from India met in Wales and married in London.  

The journalist, who is married to ITV broadcast consultant James Haggar, told Vogue: ‘I’ve lived in south London until eight years ago. And I’ve been told many times “why don’t you just f*** off to where you came from?”

‘So trust me, when things touch you, sometimes you physically can’t let that go. If you’re saying you saw me sit back – frustrated, angry – it’s inevitable when you’ve had these experiences.’ 

The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) had originally ruled that Ms Munchetty had breached editorial guidelines when she condemned President Trump’s comments where he told female Democrats to ‘go back’ to their own countries. 

In partially upholding a complaint against Ms Munchetty, the BBC was itself accused of racism, with broadcasters Sir Lenny Henry and Krishnan Guru-Murthy among others launching a campaign for the BBC to reverse its decision. 

Balancing act: Naga with her mother Muthu who she said was told: ‘You P*** bitch, get your hands off me’ after they moved to England in 1971

Ms Munchetty said her response to the Donald Trump tweet was not unprofessional because you ‘cannot be a robot on the sofa’ while presenting the show. 

She added: ‘It is not OK to use offensive language, or to skirt around offensive language, to make a point or to get attention. That’s a fact. It’s like you saw someone being beaten up on the street and you didn’t go over.’ 

Trump said these congresswomen should go fix their countries of origin before trying to weigh in on American politics and claimed they are from ‘corrupt,’ ‘inept’ countries 

During the controversial broadcast on July 17, 2019, after being probed by her co-host Dan Walker for her thoughts, Ms Munchetty said she was ‘absolutely furious a man in that position thinks it’s OK to skirt the lines by using language like that’.

Following the outrage over the BBC’s ruling, the corporation’s Director General sent an email to staff claiming the decision ‘sparked an important debate about racism and its interpretation’.

He said: ‘Racism is racism and the BBC is not impartial on the topic.

‘There was never a finding against Naga for what she said about the President’s tweet.’

He continued: ‘I have looked carefully at all the arguments that have been made and assessed all of the materials.

‘I have also examined the complaint itself. It was only ever in a limited way that there was found to be a breach of our guidelines. These are often finely balanced and difficult judgements.

‘But, in this instance, 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.’

He said Ms Munchetty was ‘an exceptional journalist and presenter’, adding: ‘I am proud that she works for the BBC.’