The executive producer of BBC’s “Songs of Praise” program compared the song “Rule Britannia,” which is about British patriotism, with neo-Nazis yelling about how they “will never be forced into the gas chamber.”
The Jewish Chronicle reported that the controversy began when the BBC had considered dropping various patriotic songs — including “Rule Britannia” — for the annual Last of the Night Proms concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall on Sept. 12. The concert, which is usually the last show of an eight-week period of classical music concerts during the summer, typically features patriotic anthems during the second half of the show.
BBC’s “Songs of Praise” executive producer Cat Lewis, who is the CEO of the Nine Lives Media company that independently produces the program, tweeted on Aug. 24, “Do those Brits who believe it’s ok to sing an 18th Century song about never being enslaved, written when the UK [United Kingdom] was enslaving and killing millions of innocents, also believe it’s appropriate for neo-Nazis to shout, ‘We will never be forced into a gas chamber.’ #RuleBritannia”
Do those Brits who believe it’s ok to sing an 18th Century song about never being enslaved, written when the UK was enslaving and killing millions of innocents, also believe it’s appropriate for neo-Nazis to shout, “We will never be forced into a gas chamber.” #RuleBritannia
— Cat Lewis (@catrionalewis) August 25, 2020
“Rule Britannia” features the line “Britons never, never, never shall be slaves,” which is why some argue that the song has racist and colonialist overtones.
Jewish groups criticized Lewis’ tweet.
“For some there is zero collective memory,” the Simon Wiesenthal Center tweeted. “Comparison disgusting, ignorant by producer at @BBC.”
For some there is zero collective memory. Comparison disgusting, ignorant by producer at @BBC https://t.co/RQCXU0EaT0 via @MailOnline
— SimonWiesenthalCntr (@simonwiesenthal) August 25, 2020
Honest Reporting, a watchdog group against anti-Israel media bias, accused Lewis of “downplaying the genuine, menacing issues of antisemitism and neo-Nazism. Unacceptable.”
This is a @BBC exec. producer outrageously comparing Brits singing "Rule Britannia" to Neo-Nazis she imagines singing about "never being gassed". (Purely a figment of her odd imagination.)
Downplaying the genuine, menacing issues of antisemitism and neo-Nazism. Unacceptable. https://t.co/VMydkEuWsZ
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) August 26, 2020
Pro-Israel activist Aboud Dandachi tweeted in a reply to Lewis, “Has your rabid persuit [sic] of wokeness made you lose your mind? Im [sic] not a Brit, but I am an Anglophile. My years in British boarding school made me who I am. And I will sing Rule Britannia as unapologetically as I sing ‘The Maple Leaf Forever.’ God bless GB [Great Britain].”
https://twitter.com/abouddandachi/status/1298371444527824897?s=20
Lewis defended herself in a couple of Aug. 25 tweets.
“I believe slavery was Britain’s holocaust,” she wrote. “We should apologise for it properly and yet at the moment, we have NO memorial to enslaved people in the UK. We should not celebrate slave owners.
“And we should not sing in a gloating way that Britons will never be enslaved, when we were responsible for enslaving so many. We should have anthems which celebrate what is truly great about the UK, which we can all sing and this will help unite our country.”
She also suggested in a later tweet that the songs could be performed with revised lyrics to “celebrate and unify our fantastic country.”
1 of 2 I believe slavery was Britain’s holocaust. We should apologise for it properly and yet at the moment, we have NO memorial to enslaved people in the UK. We should not celebrate slave owners.
— Cat Lewis (@catrionalewis) August 25, 2020
2 of 2 And we should not sing in a gloating way that Britons will never be enslaved, when we were responsible for enslaving so many. We should have anthems which celebrate what is truly great about the UK, which we can all sing and this will help unite our country.
— Cat Lewis (@catrionalewis) August 25, 2020
If I was producing the Proms, I’d suggest launching a national competition to find new lyrics for #RuleBritannia and #LandOfHopeAndGlory – words which celebrate and unify our fantastic country, because the music to both is undoubtedly fabulous.
— Cat Lewis (@catrionalewis) August 25, 2020
According to The Daily Mail, the BBC ultimately decided against dropping the songs from the concert after criticism from Prime Minister Boris Johnson; the songs will be performed without the lyrics.
“For the avoidance of any doubt, these songs will be sung next year,” a BBC spokesperson told The Daily Mail. “We obviously share the disappointment of everyone that the Proms will have to be different but believe this is the best solution in the circumstances and look forward to their traditional return next year.”
The BBC’s “Songs of Praise” program televises Christian hymns sung in British churches.
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