Guz Khan. Photo: YouTube screenshot

The BBC is standing by its decision to let British stand-up comedian Guz Khan host the satirical current affairs show Have I Got News For You despite the fact that he has posted a number of anti-Israel comments on social media.

The 37-year-old comedian of Pakistani descent, who was born in Coventry, England, has repeatedly written on X/Twitter — as well as reposted from others — messages that advocate for a “Free Palestine” and accuse Israel of occupation, ethnic cleansing, imperialism, genocide, colonialism, and war crimes. He will guest host the next episode of Have I Got News for You, which will air on BBC One on Friday.

A BBC spokesperson defending Khan told British media that Hat Trick, the production company behind Have I Got News For You for the last 30 years, has always hired “people with a broad range of political views.”

“Their job is to deliver a program that fully complies with the BBC’s editorial standards,” the spokesperson added.

One BBC staffer upset by Khan’s hiring told The Times they were “lost for words,” especially given the likelihood that the Israel-Hamas war will be discussed on the satirical panel show. Meanwhile, Khan on Wednesday poked fun at the controversy surrounding his posts on X and his hiring for the show, writing, “Man, I thought they had the CCTV footage of me eating haraam McDonalds chicken nuggets in a car park in Coventry. That would have been career ending…because I was ENJOYING them. God forgive me.”

Khan has been tirelessly sharing messages on X condemning the Jewish state since Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre, during which Palestinian terrorists murdered over 1,200 people, mostly civilians, across southern Israel and took more than 240 others as hostages back to Gaza.

One day after the terrorist onslaught, Khan posted on X about Palestinians enduring “horror at the hands of the State of Israel” for the past 75 years. He added that “many of them have been living in an open air prison. None of you hypocrites would accept this for even a day. None of you. Bring this occupation to an end.”

In another tweet from Nov. 14, Khan wrote: “For many of us who were just kids post 9/11, we always wondered how the world stood by whilst so much innocent Iraqi and Afghani blood was spilled In 2023, it’s happening again Palestinians are being forced from THEIR land. Their children are being butchered. Apartheid reigns.”

Photo: Screenshot

Photo: Screenshot

The Daily Mail cited an unnamed senior politician in the United Kingdom who called the BBC’s hiring of Khan “appalling,” adding: “It is quite clear that the BBC has lost all sense of impartiality and public service standards. No one at the BBC is ever held to account over such decisions.”