Thread by @EAzizlerli

1) Sheyam Ghieth is an Lgbt artist of Egyptian origin and she resides in the US. She is known for her illustrations on award-winning TV series Ramy. This is the story of how the BBC cancelled her. Because on her instagram account, some of her illustrations deal with apartheid.

2) I was a senior journalist at the BBC & part of an email chain about Sheyam. A producer had pitched a story on Lgbt figures from the Arab world and put in Sheyam Ghieth as a prospective interviewee. It is an Lgbt story - not about Israel. And Sheyam’s work covers a wide range.

3) Seniors objected to Sheyam Ghieth’s inclusion. The head of BBC Mideast desk Raffi Berg was cc’ed in. They had taken a peek at Sheyam’s Instagram account and some of her work was ‘controversial’. How? She called Israel an apartheid and declared her anti-Zionism.

4) I was staring at the email chain, in disbelief. These Lgbt-friendly liberal Brits were writing off an Egyptian lesbian artist and her chance to speak about queer issues in the Arab world, because like 99% of the Arab public she cared about Palestinians.

5) Fairness and impartiality would require these BBC people to cancel Barbara Streisand, too, a self-avowed Zionist. And God forbid anyone cancelling her highness Ms Streisand. But this being the white impartiality of British journalists, Sheyam was thrown in the bin.

6) I was not comfortable with what I was witnessing. So I talked to my then editor Sarah Austin, who told me she understood the concerns over Sheyam but also tried to comfort me by saying the cancellation emails were ‘badly worded’. Badly worded? It was anti-Arab racism!

7) This was around time when I sent a message to my team, telling them my desire to fuck white impartiality and white editorial guidelines. I was suspended for three months, cut off from all communication with my BBC colleagues. To the BBC’s credit, I wasn’t sacked.

8) It is one thing to studiously omit the word ‘apartheid’ from news copy, but this episode sheds light to something far more insidious that is going on behind closed doors at the BBC. It shows the cruelty, and deception, BBC journalists can demonstrate towards Palestinians.

9) #SheyamGhieth #apartheid #WhiteImpartiality @m7mdkurd @Art4PalestineUK @danaelkurd #Ramy @JalalAK_jojo @OmarSShakir @sxgx @AyoCaesar @Omar_Gaza @raffiberg @samsmith

10) A copy of the BBC email below. Sheyam seems to be ‘very pro-Palestine and as you know we have to be careful with that’. Do you get the message with the ‘as you know’? As you know, here at the BBC we can’t talk about Israel’s apartheid! This is BBC talking.