Biden Should 'Have Trump Murdered': BBC Host Faces Major Backlash Over Violent Elections 2024 Post
A BBC host has drawn sharp criticism on social media after joking that President Joe Biden should "hurry up" and have former President Donald Trump killed following the Supreme Court's presidential immunity ruling.
In a now-deleted post on X, formerly Twitter, David Aaronovitch wrote: "If I was Biden, I'd hurry up and have Trump murdered on the basis that he is a threat to America's security #SCOTUS," according to a screenshot obtained by TMZ.
The tweet came after the Supreme Court's Monday ruling that Trump cannot be prosecuted for "official acts" during his presidency.
The landmark 6-3 ruling rejected a previous court decision that found Trump did not have immunity from federal criminal charges involving his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden.
The decision did not clearly define what counts as an official act, but liberal justice Sonia Sotomayor said in a dissent that it essentially meant "a president's use of any official power for any purpose, even the most corrupt, is immune from prosecution."
Aaronovitch's post triggered major backlash online, with some claiming that he violated the BBC's guidelines on employee impartiality and calling for him to be fired.
"This is wrong on so many levels." journalist Dan Wootton said in a video on X, accusing Aaronovitch of "incitement to violence."
"@DAaronovitch should be sacked immediately!! @BBC," one X user tweeted.
The host of BBC Radio 4's "Briefing Room" later explained that his post was "satire" but that he decided to delete it after receiving backlash.
"There's now a far right pile on suggesting that my tweet about the Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity is an incitement to violence when it's plainly a satire. So I'm deleting it. If nothing else though it's given me a map of some the daftest people on this site," Aaronovitch wrote in the follow-up tweet.
He went on to take jabs at his critics, pointing out that they appear to have no "problem with the ruling itself."
Note by the way that not one of them has a problem with the ruling itself
— David Aaronovitch (@DAaronovitch) July 1, 2024
"Incidentally an anthropologist might find it interesting to examine the hashtags, bios and tweet histories of those who have been attacking me on here today. They reveal a rather extraordinary sub-culture," Aaronovitch added in another post.
When one X user suggested that his initial post wasn't actually said "in jest," he sarcastically responded, "No, you're quite right, I knew Joe Biden reads my tweets and was highly likely to act upon them. You idiot."
The Supreme Court's immunity ruling will further delay the case against Trump over his attempt to subvert the 2020 election.
As the trial judge will have to decide which actions were done in Trump's capacity as president, the case is unlikely to go to trial before the Nov. 5 election.
