‘Let’s Talk About Something Else’: BBC Reporter Squirms When Elon Musk Flips Script To

BBC reporter James Clayton sounded flustered and repeatedly asked to “talk about something else” when Twitter CEO Elon Musk flipped a “COVID information” question around on the reporter.

Musk and Clayton sat down for a somewhat impromptu interview on Tuesday to discuss numerous topics, including the former’s takeover of Twitter.

“COVID is no longer an issue,” Musk told Clayton when asked why Twitter removed its “COVID misinformation labels.”

Flipping the question, the 51-year-old asked Clayton, “Does the BBC hold itself at all responsible for misinformation regarding masking and side effects of vaccinations, and not reporting on that at all?”

“And what about the fact that the BBC was put under pressure by the British government to change editorial policy? Are you aware of that?” Musk continued.

The Tesla CEO is referring to leaked messages reported by The Guardian, which revealed that BBC editors, following pressure from Downing Street, asked their journalists to avoid using the term “lockdown” while reporting on the pandemic and to be more critical of the Labour Party.

“Hi all – D st (Downing Street) are asking if we can avoid the word ‘lockdown’. I’m told the message will be that they want to keep pushing people to stay at home but they are not talking about enforcement at the moment,” read one obtained BBC message, marked “IMPORTANT ADVISORY – language re broadcast.”

An uncomfortable Clayton responded to Musk, “This is not an interview about the BBC.”

“Oh, you thought it wasn’t,” Musk answered.

After giving off a laugh, Clayton told Musk, “I am not a representative of the BBC’s editorial policy. I want to make that clear.”

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“Let’s talk about something else,” the reporter said. “You want to talk about the BBC? Let’s talk about something else.”

Musk then said flatly, “You weren’t expecting that.”

LISTEN:

After grilling @elonmusk on lifting censorship, BBC turns to “COVID Misinformation”.

Musk proceeds to call the entire BBC to account for their disinformation on the virus, the vaccine, their collaboration with the government and failure to retract/correct the record.

Epic. pic.twitter.com/pbQ3c0IYvE

— Bree A Dail (@breeadail) April 12, 2023

During the same interview, Musk was pressed by Clayton about alleged “hate speech” on Twitter, The Daily Wire reported.

After the reporter claimed he’d personally witnessed a rise in “hate speech” following Musk’s takeover of the platform, Musk asked Clayton to give him one example.

After Clayton was unable to provide an example, Musk asked, “Well, then how can you say you’ve seen more hateful content?”

“At some point, you must have seen hateful content,” the Tesla CEO said. “I’m asking for one example and you can’t give a single one.”

“You don’t know what you are talking about,” Musk said, adding, “You cannot give me a single example of hateful content, not even one tweet. And yet you claimed that hateful content was high … That is false, you just lied.”

Related: WATCH: Elon Musk Shreds BBC Reporter Who Can’t Name ‘One Example’ Of Twitter Hate Speech