The BBC has launched an internal review after veteran Radio 4 producer Jayne Egerton was found sharing and moderating antisemitic and anti-Israel content in a private Facebook group — including posts accusing the wife of murdered U.S. political activist Charlie Kirk of being his “Zionist handler.”
Egerton, who has worked for the BBC for more than three decades and co-produces The Long View with sociologist Laurie Taylor, was identified by Jewish News as the administrator behind a 2,300-member female-only Facebook group called Actual Gender Critical Left. The group, which went private last week after the British news outlet contacted the BBC, regularly circulated posts attacking Israel and promoting fringe anti-Zionist theories.
Kirk, a prominent pro-Israel activist and close ally of Donald Trump, was addressing students at an outdoor campus event on September 10 when a sniper opened fire from a rooftop roughly 142 yards away. He was struck by a single rifle round, leaving behind his widow Erica and two young children. Last week, Erica received the Presidential Medal of Freedom on behalf of her slain husband from President Trump, an honor Egerton described as undeserved recognition for a conspirator in what she called Kirk’s “Zionist plot.”
“Erica is not some ‘strong figure,’” Egerton reposted from another member in the group. “She was Charlie’s Zionist handler who only exists in his sphere to redirect her husband’s organization into a politically acceptable one. Her history tells the story of a traitor. Hell, she married a male supremacist.”
In several other antisemitic posts, Egerton described Israel as a “fascist government” and shared false claims that Israeli forces were committing “femi-genocide” against Arab women in Gaza. Additional content discovered in the group compared Israel to Nazi Germany and promoted the concept of “pinkwashing,” an accusation that Israel exploits its LGBTQ+ image to deflect international criticism of its military actions.
Egerton previously received an award from the British Sociological Association in 2019 for her work. She has since removed herself as an administrator of the Facebook group and has not publicly commented.
A BBC spokesperson told Jewish News: “We take allegations of breaches of our social media guidance very seriously. We do not comment on individual staff matters; however, if we find breaches, we take appropriate action.”
The revelations come amid growing concern over anti-Israel bias within Britain’s national broadcaster. During the BBC’s live Glastonbury Festival coverage this summer, punk duo Bob Vylan led the crowd in chanting “Free, free Palestine” before escalating to “Death, death to the IDF.” The performance aired uncut on BBC iPlayer, prompting an apology days later.
Even more damaging for the BBC’s reputation came in February after it released its documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone. The film featured 13-year-old Abdullah as narrator, but the BBC failed to disclose that he was the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who served as Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture. Facing growing outrage, BBC Director-General Tim Davie has since ordered antisemitism awareness training as part of a wider effort to restore public trust.
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