The BBC has reportedly banned its staff from calling eachother “mate” and “sweetheart” following a series of bad behaviour scandals. Making comments on things such as people’s accents and hair are now microaggressions under the company’s “passports”, which are filled in by staff, The Sun reports. A BBC insider told the outlet that it is not an effort to limit free speech, however a member of production said it “feels like enforced speech”.
They said: “It feels like enforced speech. On one of my last jobs – a quiz show for the BBC – the producers hounded me until I had done my training and told me they couldn’t employ me unless I had done it. I’m from a diverse background – a Muslim family – but I’m probably not the right sort of diverse person as I don’t wear a hijab. I feel like I have to tread really carefully in what I say on set.
“It’s like walking on eggshells, whether it’s about race, your sex or your preferred pronouns. Increasingly, we have runners who are LGBTQ+ and it’s hard to remember everyone’s pronouns, so I just call them ‘hun’, but now worry that’s wrong, too.
“I got called up for calling someone a ‘babe’. Apparently it wasn’t professional, even though I meant they looked beautiful. Since then I’ve felt I have to be really careful. I just keep quiet and say nothing. It feels like woke gone mad.”
As well as mate and sweetheart, other unacceptable phrases are silver fox and baby-faced, which are seen as ageist.
The skills training “passport” is completed every year and involves a multiple-choice quiz “designed to create a better, more welcoming and safe place to work”.
Staff must complete modules such as “tackling harassment and bullying at work”.
A BBC spokesperson told The Sun: “This Screen Skills training is not mandatory for BBC staff and any suggestion otherwise would be wrong.
“The content of this pilot for freelancers is being reviewed by partners across the industry.”
The Express has also contacted the BBC for comment.
