Who watches Harry and Paul on BBC 2? I don’t but last September 26, which will be September 29 here, an episode about a Filipino domestic helper was shown gyrating in front of her British employers. Members of the 200,000-strong Filipino community in the United Kingdom protested, saying “insulting reference to Filipino women, typifying them in a dual role as domestic workers and sex toys of their British employers.”
Other outraged Filipino community leaders together with hundreds of members picketed last week, October 17, in front of the BBC office in White City. Another group also rallied at Tiger Aspect in Soho, which is situated in central London. Andrew Zane, chief executive of Harry and Paul producer Tiger Aspect Productions apologized to them, saying “We’re sorry to anyone who was in any way offended by the program. This certainly was not our intention.”
These leaders also put up an online petition protesting the same Harry and Paul episode. In three days, the site have gathered more than 2,000 signatures from people of different races feeling the same outrage that Filipinos have all over the world.
Prior to that, Philippine Ambassador to the Court of St. James’s Edgardo Espiritu wrote BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons expressing how dismayed he is, in behalf of all the Filipinos, over the Harry and Paul episode on October 3. The same letter have reached the BBC Complaints Center, the All Party Parliamentary Group-Philippines and the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office of Chairman Mark Pritchard, the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission head Sir Trevor Phillips, the Office of Communications (OFCOM|), the independent regulator of the UK communications industries, the UK Press Complaints Commission head Sir Christopher Meyer, London Mayor Boris Johnson, and the UK Secretary of State for Women and Equality Harriet Harman.
In return, a letter of apology dated October 10 that states “Please accept my sincere apologies, on behalf of the BBC, for the offence that this program caused you,” from Thompson reached the Philippine Embassy on October 20.
