The BBC has defended its handling of a Protect the Dolls t-shirt worn by House of the Dragon actor Bethany Antonia on Strictly Come Dancing, after viewers accused it of censoring a trans rights message. The broadcaster said it routinely reduces overt branding and slogans on entertainment programmes under its editorial guidelines, whatever the wording. The row has turned attention to how those rules play out when a message carries political weight.
Antonia, who plays Baela Targaryen in the Game of Thrones prequel, is competing in the 24th series of Strictly. At the weekend she wore the charity shirt, which raises money for the non-profit Not A Phase and has also been worn by Pedro Pascal, Madonna, Troye Sivan and Addison Rae. Several training clips appeared with the slogan cut out, and a post on X on 10 October claimed a rehearsal video had been swapped for one that hid the front of the shirt and that it was fully blurred during the broadcast.
Viewers responded sharply on social media, calling the BBC cowards and the decision disgraceful, with some arguing the country had moved too far to the right to show a shirt about safety and inclusion. In a statement to The Independent, a BBC spokesperson said that “appropriate steps are taken to reduce the inclusion of any overt branding or slogans” in such shows.
The broadcaster’s explanation rests on a neutral rule applied to all text on clothing. Critics, however, have placed the edit alongside recent commissioning decisions. Last month the BBC cancelled RuPaul’s Drag Race UK after eight series, citing budget cuts, and earlier this year it dropped the queer dating show I Kissed A Girl and its spin-off I Kissed A Boy, pointing to funding challenges.
Jordan Burrow, who appeared in the second series of I Kissed A Boy, told BBC Newsbeat that he was unsurprised by those cuts and saw them as a sign of how the queer community is treated. The BBC has not indicated any change to its guidelines, and Antonia continues in the competition. The episode is the latest in a series of disputes over the corporation’s handling of LGBTQ content this year.
