The BBC has agreed to pay £400,000 to the award-winning documentary producer Lucie Kon (57).
Kon says she was harassed by colleagues at the BBC because she is Jewish. She also claims she was effectively forced out of the broadcaster, according to The Telegraph.
The BBC has not admitted any liability whatsoever, nor has it apologised. The money the BBC is paying out is partly licence fee-funded.
Kon is the first well-known figure to have received financial compensation from the BBC after accusing colleagues of anti-Semitism.
Following the terrorist attack in Israel on 7 October 2023, the working environment became completely different, Kon explains.
“It was like having the word ‘Jew’ stamped on my forehead,” Kon tells the newspaper.
Lucie Kon. Facsimile from The Telegraph
According to her, colleagues said that Zionists are evil. She was told that if she wanted to call Hamas terrorists, she would have to call Israel terrorists as well. When she wanted to make a documentary about 7 October, she was told she could not lead the project because, as a Jew, she was too biased. Furthermore, she says, a documentary about murder and rape at a music festival was intended to place the attack in a broader context and show understanding for the perpetrators.
Kon has worked at the BBC for over 22 years. Films she has been involved in have won Oscars, Emmys and BAFTAs. When she decided to lodge a formal complaint, she was sent home. For several months, she was out of work. The BBC’s internal investigation subsequently dismissed the complaint.
During a reorganisation, her post was made redundant, and she was not offered the new role that replaced it.
“They tried to stop me from doing my job because I am Jewish,” she says.
Kon has stated that other Jewish employees at the BBC are still being harassed. Among other things, a change of Director-General at the organisation is said to have taken place due to prejudice against Israel.
The BBC says it does not comment on individual cases, but states that anti-Semitism will not be tolerated.
