BBC Breakfast star Naga Munchetty has insisted she won’t take the bait from online abusers after years of slapping down social media trolls.
It was recently reported that Naga, 50, was reprimanded by TV bosses over two incidents, including an alleged accusation relating to the “bullying” a junior staff member. “That wasn’t an isolated incident. It really is the tip of the iceberg,” an unnamed source was said to have told The Sun.
However, amid these reports earlier this month, Naga has also made a couple of podcast appearances. And during these chats, she revealed how she has dealt with “hurtful” remarks viewers have made about her weight and clothes.
BBC Breakfast news: Naga Munchetty on being criticised
Appearing on the Walking The Dog With Emily Dean podcast, Naga explained: “Things can be amplified really quickly when you have a public profile and being criticised. People don’t think really.”
People believe they can say whatever they want to say.
Naga went on: “People believe they can say whatever they want to say. And not think if they’re hurting someone’s feelings. And not think if what they’re doing is actually productive or just saying things for the sake of things.”
The TV anchor added how she’s been approached in public by people who want to tell her how much they dislike her work.
“I’ve had people come up to me saying, ‘I don’t like you on telly. Your radio show’s, all right, it’s quite interesting. But I don’t like you on telly. I never watch you,'” Naga recalled.
‘I don’t engage in it’
Meanwhile, Naga – who hosts BBC Breakfast alongside Charlie Stayt – noted she has changed the way she tackles such unwanted exchanges.
She reflected: “I kind of don’t even rise to it now. I don’t engage in it. Whereas before, I think when I was younger, I’d have said, ‘What don’t you like?’ I don’t care.”
Naga also seemed baffled by the sense of entitlement she has encountered by those dressing her down over what she’s wearing.
Naga went on: “You think your opinion is so important that you get to tell me you don’t like me? Some stranger, I’m a stranger to you. Or people who just say, ‘I don’t like what you’re wearing today.’ Alright, I’m not wearing it for you. I’m just wearing clothes. They’ve chosen to say something about me and it’s affecting me. I can’t be comparing myself to everyone else.”
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Comments about Naga’s weight
Naga also scoffed at a particular backhanded compliment she had received.
“The best thing people say is, ‘Oh, you’re not as fat as you look on telly,'” she went on. Naga detailed how one woman told her “on the television you look so wide” and asked her: “What size are you?”
Naga said: “Now I would not blink at having that conversation. I probably even told her my size… and I was so polite, whereas now I’d say, ‘I don’t think I need to tell you what size clothes I wear, do I?’ And I’d say it in a nice-ish way with a bit of a smile, irony. But I have a lot more confidence about that now.”
However, Naga also feels she is more “mindful of her behaviour in public” due to her BBC role.
“When you watch Breakfast, you feel like you’ve got some trusted friends who are getting you through the day and through the news,” she said.
“There would be a slight disappointment, I think if you saw me, rip roaring drunk, rolling around the floor and shouting profanities.”
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