{"id":644235,"date":"2026-10-12T16:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T16:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/644235\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T16:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T16:00:09","slug":"bbc-defends-editing-out-trans-rights-slogan-on-strictly-contestants-t-shirt-bbc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/644235\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC defends editing out trans rights slogan on Strictly contestant\u2019s T-shirt | BBC"},"content":{"rendered":"

The BBC has defended its decision to edit out a transgender rights slogan from a T-shirt worn by a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing<\/a>, stating it was standard practice to avoid \u201covert branding or slogans\u201d.<\/p>\n

The actor Bethany Antonia was filmed wearing the T-shirt, which bore the slogan \u201cProtect the Dolls\u201d, during rehearsals before her live performance on Saturday night<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Protect the Dolls T-shirt. The slogan has become a sign of support for the rights of trans women. Photograph: Twitter<\/p>\n

The slogan has become a sign of support for the rights of trans women, with proceeds from sales of the T-shirt donated to the UK trans charity, Not A Phase.<\/p>\n

However, the T-shirt\u2019s wording was edited out, making it appear plain white, during footage of Antonia\u2019s rehearsals shown on Saturday\u2019s show. The edited version also appears on the BBC\u2019s iPlayer platform.<\/p>\n

The T-shirt, produced by the designer Conner Ives, has previously been worn by prominent figures such as the actors Pedro Pascal and Tilda Swinton, as well as the singer Troye Sivan.<\/p>\n

A social media video posted by the BBC last week had shown Antonia, who stars in House of the Dragon, training in the T-shirt with her professional dance partner, Nancy Xu. At that point, the slogan on the T-shirt was clearly visible.<\/p>\n

However, when footage of their rehearsals was shown during Saturday\u2019s show, Antonia was instead seen wearing a plain white T-shirt.<\/p>\n

The BBC said edits were made to meet editorial guidelines.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson said: \u201cAs is standard practice on any entertainment show on the BBC and in line with our editorial guidelines, appropriate steps are taken to reduce the inclusion of any overt branding or slogans that may be present, regardless of the wording or statement in question.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antonia has not commented on the BBC\u2019s editing.<\/p>\n

The BBC has previously edited clothing to meet either its own editorial standards or other broadcasting rules.<\/p>\n

In 2017, the BBC blurred out a T-shirt worn by the Clean Bandit singer Grace Chatto proclaiming support for the then Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn. She had been wearing it in a video message to the One Love Manchester concert for victims of the Manchester arena terrorist attack.<\/p>\n

The event took place in the pre-election period during which extra broadcasting impartiality rules kicked in. \u201cIn order to include Clean Bandit\u2019s message in a montage of well-wishing clips, the T-shirt was blurred,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

In 2024, writing on a T-shirt worn by Kaiser Chiefs\u2019 singer Ricky Wilson, which read \u201cTrans Rights Are Human Rights\u201d, appeared to have been blurred out by the BBC in certain shots during an episode of Michael McIntyre\u2019s Big Show.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The BBC has defended its decision to edit out a transgender rights slogan from a T-shirt worn by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46],"class_list":["post-644235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}