DJ Calvin Harris Says BBC Misused Interview Comments

LONDON - The BBC is facing more criticism about its reporting, but this time it is not tied to its coverage of a child abuse scandal.

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The U.K. public broadcaster, which has been in the spotlight amid sexual abuse allegations against late former host Jimmy Savile, lost its top executive nearly two weeks ago following a mistaken report on a flagship news show that linked a veteran politician to a child abuse scandal.

Now, star DJ and music producer Calvin Harris, known for his Rihanna collaboration "We Found Love," has lashed out against the web site of BBC Radio 1, saying it used comments he made in an interview out of their original context. He said he was considering suing the BBC for editing them to make it seem that he had admitted that DJs fake live shows.

In a Twitter tirade, Harris criticized a story on Radio 1's "Newsbeat" online section, which used quotes from him that seemed to endorse the use of pre-recorded DJ sets at live performances. But Harris said he never made the comments in question in that context and said he has found himself dealing with a slew of complaints.

The "Newsbeat" story, entitled "Do superstar DJs just press 'go' on their live shows?" appeared earlier this week. "I think it's not a problem," it quoted Harris as saying. "In the club, you want to hear a produced piece of music, you want to hear the bass, you want to hear it as good as it can sound…I used to perform with a band putting all sorts of work into a live show, and I can tell you that the reaction was worse than it is when I'm DJing."

It also mentioned that such dance music stars as Deadmau5 and Swedish House Mafia have been involved in the debate about DJs' role and actual work during on-stage live performances.

But in his Twitter reaction, Harris said that DJs don't play full pre-recorded sets. "I don't know ANY DJ that actually does that," he said. And he said his comment came not in reaction on a question about fully pre-recorded DJ sets, but the question "Is it OK for DJs to play records?"

Tweeted Harris about the "Newsbeat" writer: "Then he'll change his question in the edit to 'Is it OK to PRE-RECORD a DJ set' and use my answer to a DIFFERENT QUESTION?!"

Harris urged the BBC to make available the full interview to prove his point. "Release the audio @BBCNewsbeat and we will see exactly what was said, instead of stitching me up because u needed a bad guy in your 'report'…Looking into taking action on @BBCNewsbeat for that libelous broadcast."

The BBC hasn't commented on the issuse, but a source connected to "Newsbeat" told the Guardian that the quotes were used in the proper context and that it was standing by its report.

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com
Twitter: @georgszalai