October 24, 2012 - 16:55 AMT
Donald Trump tries to stop BBC from airing “You’ve Been Trumped” doc

Lawyers for Donald Trump reached out to the BBC two days before it was set to air Anthony Baxter’s documentary You’ve Been Trumped about the real estate mogul’s alleged bullying of residents near his golf resort in Scotland, Deadline said.

The attorneys were trying to stop Sunday night’s BBC Two broadcast, claiming it was highly defamatory, biased and misleading, according to The Guardian.

The Trump organization threatened to complain directly to British regulator Ofcom if the screening went ahead.

But the BBC showed the doc anyway to about 1.1M viewers. The letter from Trump’s reps had also asked for a right of reply at the end of the broadcast.

Trump International Golf Links exec VP, Sarah Malone, told The Guardian: “We totally denounce the BBC for further abandoning its own editorial integrity by blatantly refusing us a right of reply at the end of the broadcast.”

Picking up on the unfolding – and unrelated – turmoil at the BBC, she added, “It just goes to show that recent criticism of the BBC’s lack of sound editorial judgment to be correct.”

In reply, the BBC issued a statement: “You’ve Been Trumped is an award-winning film that has been screened at festivals around the world. During the making of the film, Donald Trump declined the opportunity to take part. We are confident that Donald Trump was offered sufficient right to reply in accordance with BBC Editorial Guidelines. Donald Trump chose not to participate but the filmmaker took care to reflect his views on a number of different occasions in the film.”