The Charity Commission is assessing concerns about comments made by the chair of the Southbank Centre, as a cohort of civil society leaders, creatives and celebrities back a petition alleging he is the victim of a “smear campaign”.
The regulator is looking into concerns raised in the media about Misan Harriman’s comments, as the arts centre’s chair faces criticism for remarks about May’s local elections, the Golders Green attacks and his alleged support of the Green Party.
On 6 May The Telegraph newspaper alleged that Harriman, who has been chair of the Southbank Centre since 2021, had “shared a conspiracy theory” that the media had ignored a Muslim victim of the Golders Green attacks on 29 April.
The publication accused Harriman of sharing a post on X that questioned the amount of media coverage given to the stabbing of a Muslim man in Southwark by Essa Suleiman, shortly before he attacked two Jewish men in Golders Green.
The Telegraph published a second story on 10 May claiming that Harriman had compared Reform’s success in the local council elections with the Holocaust, after the London arts centre chair had quoted the writer Susan Sontag in a video.
In the video, Harriman said: “[Sontag] said that when thinking about the Holocaust, she said, 10 per cent of people in any population are cruel, no matter what, and 10 per cent are merciful, no matter what, and – this is important – the other remaining 80 per cent could be moved in either direction.
“It’s such a profound way to look at us and in the context of yesterday’s election results, it’s something that I think is really topical.”
Following these reports, The Times newspaper published a letter from a group, including former BBC director of television Danny Cohen and JK Rowling’s agent Neil Blair, calling for Harriman’s resignation.
The publication later alleged that Harriman had breached regulatory rules by publicly supporting the Green Party, after he posted a picture of himself and the party’s leader, Zack Polanski, with the caption: “The vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have.”
Harriman said the video about Reform had been clipped to deliberately misrepresent him, while an open letter urging the media regulator IPSO to investigate the coverage in The Telegraph, the Daily Mail and the Daily Express has reached more than 97,000 signatures.
Another letter defending Harriman, published by the Good Law Project, has reached more than 22,600 signatures, including some civil society leaders, activists, creatives and celebrities.
The letter alleges that Harriman has been the victim of a “dishonest smear campaign orchestrated by the Telegraph and the Mail” and expresses solidarity with the arts centre chair.
“The purpose of the smear campaign, which we repeat is entirely without foundation in fact, is to traduce and marginalise Misan,” the letter says.
“And it is intended to send a message to others that if they speak out, they will be subject to harassment and threats.”
The letter adds: “We believe that safeguarding freedom of expression is essential to a healthy democracy. And that trying to silence responsible critics of Israel by smearing them as antisemitic does not protect Britain’s Jewish community.”
Charity leaders who have supported the letter include Raakhi Shah, chief executive of The Circle, and Josephine Fernandez Marelli, chief executive of Choose Love.
The statement’s celebrity signatories include the activist Greta Thunberg, the broadcaster Gary Lineker, the actor Jameela Jamil and the singer Paloma Faith.
A spokesperson for the Southbank Centre said: “The Southbank Centre is an inclusive and welcoming place for everyone including our artists, audience and all colleagues.
“The Southbank Centre condemns all forms of antisemitism, hatred and discrimination.”
The spokesperson said: “All Southbank Centre Board members, including the chair, have the right to exercise their freedom of expression within the law.
“The personal views of individual members of our board do not represent the views of the Southbank Centre and in no way affect our programming nor the welcome that we extend to all.”
The Charity Commission confirmed it was assessing concerns raised in the media relating to Harriman’s comments but, at the time of publication, no investigation had been opened.
A spokesperson for the regulator said: “We are assessing concerns raised in the media about comments made by the chair of Southbank Centre to determine if there is any regulatory role for the commission.”