BBC pays out £400k to Oscar-winning Jewish producer who claims she was forced out

The BBC has agreed to payout £400,000 to an award-winning Jewish documentarian who claims she was the victim of anti-Semitism at the broadcaster.

Lucie Kon, 57, alleges she was victimised after the October 7 terrorist attacks in Israel and was forced out of her job and was subjected to antisemitism by her colleagues.

Ms Kon, who has won an Oscar and an Emmy, said that her BBC colleagues told her that “if you want to call Hamas terrorists then you have to call Israel terrorists too” and said that Zionists such as herself are “evil”.

She also alleges that she was told she should “think about what drove Hamas to do what they did” and was sidelined from a documentary about the October 7 as she was “too partial” given that she is Jewish.

After she made a formal complaint about her treatment, Ms Kon claims the BBC told her to stay at home for a few months and eventually her told made redundant. She was turned down for a similar position that replaced it, and an internal investigation did uphold her formal complaint.

Ms Kon, who has family living in Israel, told The Telegraph that her religion had not been an issue for the first 22 years of her career, but has felt since October 2023 that “it was like having Jew stamped on my forehead”.

She said: “I think I became a problem. I think I made too much noise about being a Jew inside the BBC. I stood up for my community. I was open about being a Zionist.

“The BBC says, bring your authentic self to work. And I did. And I lost my job as a result.”

Over the course of her career, she worked on BBC Panorama, BBC Breakfast and Storyville, and executive produced the Oscar- and BAFTA-winning Mr Nobody Against Putin, and the Emmy, Rose d’Or and duPont Award-winning We Will Dance Again.

She was part of a delegation of Jewish staff who called on former director-general Tim Davie to call out anti-Semitism.

“I know that nothing’s changed because I’ve spoken to quite a few people since I left,” she said. “Friends who are still struggling, still suffering, who feel embarrassed to say that they’re Zionist or that they’re a Jew,” she said.

A BBC spokesperson said: “We are grateful that Ms Kon acknowledges that the BBC is not institutionally antisemitic.

“The BBC processes did not uphold any of Ms Kon’s allegations of antisemitism. However, the outcome did acknowledge there were shortcomings, and the personal impact on Ms Kon.

“We would like to acknowledge that Ms Kon was a valued member of staff with many years of dedicated service to the BBC."