World Cup 2022: BBC Refuses To Air Opening Ceremony, Opts For Virtue Signaling

Qatar opened this year’s World Cup with a stunning opening ceremony kicked off by actor Morgan Freeman and BTS K-pop star Jungkook, along with hundreds of other performers, lights, flames, and plenty of glamour, but fans tuning in via the BBC were left out of the magic as the British broadcaster chose to skip the first half-hour of the event.

Eko Hot Blog reports that at first BBC One chose to continue coverage of the Women’s Super League match between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, but instead of switching over to the live performance once the match finished it aired a pre-recorded report on Qatar’s human rights record.

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“It’s the most controversial World Cup in history and a ball hasn’t even been kicked,” said the Match of the Day host Gary Lineker at the start of the segment, before diving into criticism against Qatar’s treatment of women and migrant workers, free speech and a series of other issues.

“Ever since Fifa chose Qatar back in 2010, the smallest nation to have hosted football’s greatest competition has faced some big questions – from accusations of corruption in the bidding process to the treatment of migrant workers who built the stadiums where many lost their lives,” Lineker said. “Homosexuality is illegal here. Women’s rights and freedom of expression are in the spotlight.”

“Against that backdrop, there’s a tournament to be played – one that will be watched and enjoyed around the world. Stick to football, say Fifa. Well, we will – for a couple of minutes at least.”

Lineker’s opening comments were followed by a nearly 30-minute censure of Qatar from the BBC’s Ros Atkins, who eviscerated the Gulf nation on a slew of issues with a combination of interviews, footage and graphics, diving into a list of rights criticisms as well as the event’s carbon footprint.

Fans watching BBC One, as well as ITV, expressed outrage over the snub, which many called “disrespectful”.

“Outrageously disrespectful to Qatar that the BBC didn’t broadcast the World Cup opening ceremony, and instead put out more virtue-signalling guff about how awful it is. If they’re that appalled, they should bring home their vast army of employees & spare us this absurd hypocrisy,” Piers Morgan tweeted.

BBC One did note that: “Full build-up and coverage of the World Cup has been available across the BBC, including the opening ceremony on iPlayer (online)”.