The BBC has terminated the employment of a senior employee for posting anti-Semitic comments on social media.
The employee, Dawn Queva, who was one of the company’s senior scheduling coordinators, posted several anti-Semitic comments on Facebook. The corporation became aware of these comments last week and officially confirmed her dismissal on Sunday, 4 February.
Emphasising its zero-tolerance policy towards anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and any form of abuse, the company expressed its commitment to taking allegations seriously and enforcing appropriate disciplinary measures whenever necessary.
Hence, the company informed that it had removed all of Queva’s anti-Semitic posts from Facebook. Additionally, the company acknowledged the concerns among some Jewish staff members and emphasised its dedication to prioritising staff welfare.
Furthermore, BBC assured of the existence of well-established processes to handle issues, concerns, or complaints, with various support mechanisms available for those in need.
Andrew Neil, former BBC presenter, citing information from ex-colleagues, described the current atmosphere as “grim” and “frightening” for Jewish individuals at the BBC. He expressed confidence that the BBC would take decisive action in addressing the situation, characterising it as a clear-cut case.
Not long ago, Deloitte terminated one of its employees for openly admiring Adolf Hitler’s “charismatic” traits in a LinkedIn post meant to inspire readers. These were the personal views of Neerabh Mehrotra, who worked as associate director at Deloitte.
He chose to appreciate the dictator’s so-called positive qualities that were worth emulating, and overlook how he had orchestrated the genocide of six million Jews. However, his views did not go down well with social-media users. What made it worse was Mehrotra’s statement that people should learn from Hitler. The post was supposed to inspire people on a Friday!
Not surprisingly, readers criticised the post and soon after Mehrotra took it down amidst heavy backlash. He also posted an apology conveying that it was his personal opinion. However, Deloitte chose to take strict action against Mehrotra and fired him, barely a month after he joined.