LATEST: Donald Trump Rally Descends Into Chilling Chants Of ‘Send Her Back’ About Muslim Congresswoman
Presenter Naga Munchetty has been praised for briefly dispensing with the usual BBC impartiality and saying she is “absolutely furious” about racist comments made by Donald Trump.
After a BBC Breakfast segment on the ongoing US row – in which the president said four Democratic politicians should “go back” to their home countries – the host revealed she had been told the same thing on a number of occasions.
Munchetty said that such comments were “embedded with racism”.
She added: “Now I’m not accusing anyone of anything here, but you know what certain phrases mean.”
With a nod to the BBC’s strict guidelines on impartiality, co-host Dan Walker asked his colleague: “I know you’re sitting here not giving an opinion, but how do you feel then, as someone who’s been told that before?”
“Furious. Absolutely furious,” Munchetty replied.
She added: “I can imagine lots of people in this country will be feeling absolutely furious that a man in that position feels it’s OK to skirt the line of using language like that.”
The outburst drew praise on social media, with journalist Marina Hyde calling it a “powerful off-script moment”.
Last night in the US the House of Representatives voted to condemn Trump’s comments.
In response the president accused the Democrats of being “wedded to this bitterness and hate”.
The embarrassing rebuke against Trump comes two days after he said four Democratic politicians should “go back” to their home countries – although all are citizens and three were born in the US.