BBC Board Member Shumeet Banerji Resigns Following Trump Speech Editing Controversy and $5 Billion Lawsuit Threat

An independent director on the BBC's board, Shumeet Banerji, has resigned on Friday following what the public broadcaster acknowledged was an improper edit of a speech by President Donald Trump, which has subsequently led to threats of a $5 billion lawsuit.

Banerji, who concurrently serves as a board member for Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries and previously held the position of chief executive at management consultancy Booz & Company, stepped down just weeks before his four-year term was scheduled to conclude, according to the broadcaster.

The BBC's news division reported that in his resignation letter, Banerji expressed concerns regarding governance issues at the highest levels of the corporation.

According to BBC News, Banerji stated in his letter that he had not been consulted about the circumstances leading to the departures of the BBC's director general, Tim Davie, and BBC News chief executive, Deborah Turness.

Davie and Turness submitted their resignations on November 9 amid allegations of bias within the broadcaster, particularly concerning the editing of Trump's January 6, 2021 speech delivered before his supporters stormed the Capitol building in Washington.

On November 13, the BBC issued an apology for how its "Panorama" news program had edited the Trump speech footage but maintained there was no legal foundation for defamation claims against the organization.

The BBC primarily operates on funding from a mandatory £174.50 ($228.56) annual license fee collected from British households that watch live television from any broadcaster or utilize the BBC's online video platform.