BBC satirical show The Mash Report has been cancelled over alleged left-wing bias, the Sun reported on Thursday.
Famous voices in Britain took to Twitter to comment on the BBC's decision, with The Sun TV Editor Andy Halls praising the move, tweeting "The Mash Report is no more".
— Andy Halls (@AndyBizarre) March 11, 2021
But British author James O'Brien slammed the move as a "stone cold example" of cancel culture.
"The Mash Report, a comedy program critical of the government has been axed by the state broadcaster, reportedly for political reasons, and at the behest of a director general appointed by the government. Finally, a stone cold example of what 'cancel culture' looks like," he said.
— James O'Brien (@mrjamesob) March 12, 2021
The news comes after Scottish journalist Andrew Neil slammed the show in 2018 as “self-satisfied, self-adulatory, unchallenged Left-wing propaganda”, the report said, citing an interview with the BBC Two.
“When it comes to so-called comedy the BBC has long given up on balance, on radio and TV. Nobody seems to care. And I don’t want right-wing comedy, whatever that is. I’d just like comedy,” Neil said.
But Kumar said in a Guardian interview he was "absolutely guilty of the accusation levelled at me by furious people on the internet in that I have not got over Brexit.”
“We are very proud of The Mash Report but in order to make room for new comedy shows we sometimes have to make difficult decisions, and it won’t be returning. We would like to thank all those involved in four brilliant series and hope to work with Nish Kumar, Rachel Parris and the team in the future,” a BBC spokesperson said in a statement.
