In December 2025, Donald Trump launched a $5bn (£3.7bn) defamation lawsuit against the BBC. But it seems the broadcaster may be taking George Clooney’s advice, telling Trump where to stick it.
Trump has shown many signs of authoritarianism, including consistent attacks on the media. Although his legal challenges are rarely strong, establishment outlets ABC and CBS have made the dangerous decision to settle rather than fight since 2024. Commenting on this in December, Clooney insisted:
#GeorgeClooney says CBS and ABC should’ve told President Trump to “go f—k yourself” and fought back harder against his defamation lawsuits:
“If CBS and ABC had challenged those lawsuits and said, ‘Go f—k yourself, we wouldn’t be where we are in the country,” Clooney told… pic.twitter.com/5Q7kDSKjH8
— Variety (@Variety) December 30, 2025
He’s right, too. Media outlets caving to the intimidation of powerful individuals only empowers them more. And at a time when the Trump administration is overseeing the murder of civilians in the streets and openly lying about it, that’s the opposite of what the media should be doing.
BBC fights back
The BBC reported on 13 January that it’s seeking to “dismiss” the lawsuit because:
- The offending programme — Panorama — didn’t air in the US, so the Florida court pursuing the case lacks “personal jurisdiction”.
- The documentary didn’t defame Trump. It simply showed his own words, albeit not in the exact order he said them.
- Trump hasn’t demonstrated “any actual damage to him” as a result of the programme.
- He won’t be able to reasonably prove that Panorama acted with “actual malice”.
The BBC has already apologised for its editing decision. But it has also:
rejected his [Trump’s] demands for compensation and disagreed there was a basis for a defamation claim
A spokesperson has reiterated that:
As we have made clear previously, we will be defending this case.
The weaponisation of lawsuits to silence critics
Trump is a serial liar. The Washington Post Fact Checker, for example, noted 30,573 “false or misleading claims” from him in his first term as president. He has very much normalised disrespect for facts and has got away with it — largely because he has money and power.
Trump and those around him have launched countless lawsuits, many of which fail. As press expert Kathy Kiely and legal expert Lyrissa Barnett Lidsky wrote on 12 January:
Over the course of his life, he has been involved in more than 4,000 lawsuits. Many of these involved Trump suing for defamation over perceived threats to his reputation… Relatively few, however, have been successful
In their opinion:
Trump appears to use lawsuits as a strategic weapon designed to silence his enemies and critics
But because money is tight in the media business nowadays, some outlets choose to settle the cases against them or self-censor to avoid such cases in the first place.
The BBC has clear bias in favour of the British establishment and its foreign policy interests. And it certainly isn’t a consistently bold truth-teller. But its commitment to opposing Trump’s malicious authoritarian attack is praiseworthy. It’s also essential. Because the more Trump gets away with, the wilder his actions become.
Featured image via the Canary
By Ed Sykes
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