The broadcaster falsely claimed the Reform UK leader called for “white cold rage” over the student’s killing
The BBC has been forced to issue an apology after one of its presenters sparked an uproar by misquoting Reform UK leader Nigel Farage as calling for “white cold rage” in response to the murder of 18-year-old student Henry Nowak.
Nowak was stabbed to death in Southampton in December by Vickrum Singh Digwa, a 23-year-old Sikh man. When police arrived at the scene, Digwa falsely claimed that he had been the victim of a racist attack.
Bodycam footage from the incident showed that officers believed Digwa’s account, treated the dying student as the suspect, dragged him across gravel and handcuffed him as he repeatedly told officers he had been stabbed and could not breathe. Nowak later lost consciousness and drowned in his own blood.
Digwa was later convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 21 years.
The release of the bodycam video has sparked mass outrage and protests, with violence breaking out during a rally in Southampton on Tuesday.
Farage responded to the footage by saying the case showed Britain was living in a “two-tier culture,” where “a false accusation of racism counted higher at that moment than someone that was dying.”
The Reform UK leader urged the British public to respond to the case with “pure, cold rage.”
However, during Tuesday’s edition of Newsnight, BBC presenter Matt Chorley repeatedly claimed Farage had called for “white cold rage,” using the phrase a total of three times during the broadcast.
In a legal letter cited by British media, Reform UK argued that the misquote was “seriously defamatory” and completely changed the meaning of Farage’s remarks, suggesting he was “invoking race as a basis for public anger” rather than condemning racially skewed treatment by authorities.
Chorley apologized directly to Farage on X on Wednesday, claiming he had “misremembered” the quote.
The BBC also issued an apology, published a correction, and removed the episode from BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds. The broadcaster said an apology would be aired on Wednesday’s edition of Newsnight.
The misquote comes amid growing anger over government and media attempts to frame outrage over Nowak’s treatment as far-right agitation rather than as criticism of police and government failures.
Critics have accused British authorities of repeatedly dismissing anger over immigration, crime, and two-tier policing as extremism, while using those labels to justify arrests, prosecutions and prison sentences for protesters and online commentators.
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