EXCLUSIVE: “We don’t have to be impartial, we have to be funny.” That’s the riposte from Have I Got News For You producer Jimmy Mulville after the U.S. version of the show came under fire for being anti-Donald Trump in an internal BBC report.
Mulville’s Hat Trick Productions gifted the BBC the first season of CNN‘s Have I Got News For You, with the comedy series broadcasting on BBC2 during the U.S. presidential election period last year. The deal appeared to work for all parties — the BBC got an original show during the election, while Hat Trick got exposure for the international remake of its long-running BBC1 series.
Not everyone was happy, however. David Grossman, an adviser to the BBC board’s editorial standards committee, produced an internal report in January about U.S. election coverage in which he raised concerns about the Roy Wood Jr.-hosted show. Grossman’s report was also instrumental in alerting the BBC to the bungled Panorama edit of Trump’s January 6 speech, a mistake that ultimately led to the resignation of Tim Davie, the director general.
The Times of London was leaked Grossman’s report earlier this week, and Deadline has seen its section on the American version of Have I Got News For You.
“The programme was made by CNN and was in no way impartial. The presenters and team captains were vocally anti-Trump, as were most of the guests,” Grossman said. “Most of the humour was at Mr Trump’s expense or was more generally anti- Republican. Although the programme was clearly designed to be humorous (and different editorial standards apply for comedy output) and was clearly branded as CNN (the set had a prominent CNN logo) there was still a significant risk in broadcasting such one-sided and partisan material repeatedly over many weeks.”
Mulville, a producer who is rarely shy about voicing his mind, was not impressed by Grossman’s conclusions. He told Deadline: “I recommend him to get a sense of humor, because Have I Got News For You, whether it’s in the U.S. or the UK, is a comedy program, and our job is to make fun of people in power.”
Mulville, who also co-hosts Insiders: The TV Podcast, said Have I Got News For You has long been accused of bias by those in power, but he argued that it takes no sides. “We’re a comedy show, so we just basically take the piss out of everybody,” Mulville added. “I bracket Have I Got News For You with South Park, and not with 60 Minutes or Panorama.”
The Hat Trick founder said Grossman and Robbie Gibb, a former Conservative Party spin doctor and BBC board member who has been accused of a right-wing coup at the corporation (an allegation he denies), “need to be impartial when viewing impartiality.” He added: “What these people want to do is shut down these channels of comic protest and belligerence, because actually, what they want to do is groom the public to believe that they all s**t strawberry ice cream.”
The BBC has not shown Season 2 and 3 of CNN’s Have I Got News For You, but Mulville said this was due to distribution logistics rather than with Grossman’s conclusions. CNN took international rights in-house following Season 1.