The Apprentice has cut scenes with Asif from You’re Fired after antisemitism accusations

Controversial candidate from The Apprentice 2024 Dr Asif Munaf has had his scenes from spin-off show You’re Fired cut, according to the BBC after pressure from staff following antisemitism allegations regarding what Asif has put on social media. It is not yet clear what role he was due to appear on You’re Fired in.

Asif will continue to air in the main show of The Apprentice as normal. The cut scenes of Asif were filmed for The Apprentice You’re Fired just a few days ago.

Asif came under fire for comments on Twitter / X where he called Zionists “a godless, satanic cult” in regards to the conflict in Israel. “I pray they are strong enough physically, spiritually and psychologically to overcome the trial of the Zionist antichrist.”

The BBC then had a meeting with Asif to “understand why his comments may cause offence.” A spokesperson for The Apprentice released a statement saying “After filming had taken place, we were made aware of concerns over social media posts that Asif had made after he had left the process. As soon as we were alerted, we took immediate action and spoke to Asif in detail on this. Asif took part in specialised training to understand why his posts may cause offence. We are committed to providing an inclusive environment on and off screen.”

According to Deadline, the BBC’s Jewish employees were shocked Asif was back for You’re Fired. A BBC source subsequently told The Independent: “We can confirm that the individual concerned will not feature as a guest on any additional upcoming BBC content relating to The Apprentice.”

Danny Cohen, former BBC programming boss, told Deadline “I would advise BBC managers to stop telling Jewish employees what is and isn’t antisemitism. This simply would not happen if the issue involved racism against any other minority community.”

The Apprentice 2024 Series 18 continues on Thursdays on BBC One and BBC iPlayer – for all the latest reality TV and entertainment news, memes and gossip, like Pop Culture Shrine on Facebook. 

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