The BBC has found itself mired in another free speech row, after Robin Ince – co-host with Brian Cox of The Infinite Monkey Cage, the wildly popular comedy science show – announced his resignation.
Pro-trans rights Ince called his departure “a victory for the transphobes and other bigots” in a lengthy statement posted across social media which quoted James Baldwin and Audre Lorde. Ince said his “opinions outside the BBC”, particularly on trans rights and neurodivergence, “have been considered problematic for some time”.
Ince’s departure suggests the repercussions following Gary Lineker’s controversial BBC exit are ongoing. Lineker, as one of the Corporation’s most visible assets, was given a certain degree of protection and leeway to express views that some BBC News staff in particular thought went beyond what those associated with the neutral and impartial BBC should.
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After his departure, restrictions seem to be tightening downstream – with BBC employees describing a culture of paranoia that now exists at the corporation. Now Ince’s four-page statement means the influence of former Tory spin doctor turned BBC board member Robbie Gibb will inevitably again be called into question.
The final paragraph of that statement opens: “I hope that with my departure I can be a better ally to the LGBTQ society, to the neurodivergent community” and continues to list other groups with which he feels sympathy. Ince said he left “because so much of the media has chosen to believe the kind and empathetic people are a fiction – they are real and so often unrepresented”. He will have many supporters in and out of the BBC – The Infinite Monkey Cage has run for 16 years, spinning off a successful podcast and stage shows.
Some BBC insiders, though, are somewhat more sceptical about Ince’s leaving. Several noted that relations between Ince and his co-host Cox had been chillier in recent years, making the show’s production somewhat fraught. At least one suggested Ince was not always the most enjoyable talent to work with, though this is not a unique complaint at the Corporation.
Another pushed back on the sense that Ince had been forced out, noting that even his own resignation statement said he’d “felt I had no choice”, and suggested no-one had actually demanded changes of behaviour, let alone given him an ultimatum to shut up or go.
Opinions on that matter will surely differ, and the ongoing row about which opinions are allowed at the BBC – and who is allowed to have them – will surely rumble on, even if The Infinite Monkey Cage in its current form will sadly not.
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