US President Donald Trump has slapped the BBC with a blistering legal threat, demanding a billion-dollar payout or full retraction for what his team calls a "malicious" edit in a Panorama documentary. The row exploded Monday after Trump's lawyers fired off a no-holds-barred letter, giving the British broadcaster until Friday, November 14, 2025, at 5 PM EST to yank the offending footage, grovel with a public apology, and cough up compensation for "overwhelming financial and reputational harm." The ultimatum ends with a Trumpian zinger: "The BBC is on notice. PLEASE GOVERN YOURSELF ACCORDINGLY."

The controversy swirls around a 2024 Panorama special, "Trump: A Second Chance?", which spliced clips from Trump's infamous January 6, 2021, Ellipse speech—the prelude to the Capitol riot—to falsely imply he directly urged the crowd to "walk down to the Capitol" and "fight like hell" in one seamless call to arms. In reality, those lines were separated by over an hour, with Trump actually saying he'd march with supporters but ended up heading to the Oval Office instead, while cheering on congressional allies in between. Trump's legal salvo blasts the BBC for peddling "fabricated statements" that ballooned across digital platforms, reaching tens of millions and fueling the narrative that he greenlit the deadly insurrection. A leaked internal BBC memo, splashed by The Daily Telegraph last week, ripped the edit as "completely misleading" amid broader gripes of "systemic bias," igniting a firestorm that toppled two execs over the weekend.

The BBC, reeling from the self-inflicted wound, caved swiftly: Chairman Samir Shah penned a mea culpa to MPs, admitting the splice created a "direct call for violent action" and was a straight-up "error of judgment." Director General Tim Davie and News CEO Deborah Turness quit Sunday amid the backlash, with the org vowing beefed-up oversight reforms to dodge future fiascos. A spokesperson coolly noted they'd "review the letter and respond directly in due course," but insiders whisper it's a scramble to avert a courtroom brawl that could torch the cash-strapped broadcaster's £3.8 billion licence-fee lifeline. Trump, never one to miss a victory lap, crowed on Truth Social that the resignations prove BBC hacks are "corrupt" and "100% fake news," while his press team vows to keep clobbering media "liars."

Also Read: BBC Chairman Samir Shah Apologises for 'Error of Judgement' in Trump Documentary Edit

This isn't Trump's first rodeo— he's got pending suits against The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Des Moines Register, plus past dust-ups with ABC and CBS, all aimed at muzzling critics he dubs the "enemy of the people." The saga's reopened old wounds at the BBC, already battered by Gaza doc scandals, Glastonbury flubs, and a looming 2027 charter review under PM Keir Starmer's Labour government. Starmer's crew backed the Beeb hard, with a spokesman hailing its "vital role in an age of disinformation" and urging quick fixes to rebuild trust— a stark contrast to Tory and Reform UK barbs labeling it a lefty echo chamber. As the Friday deadline looms, the world watches: Will the BBC pay up, fold, or fight? One thing's clear—this billion-dollar beef could redefine global media wars.

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