Watch Kennedy’s comments here. 

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) condemned the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for its biased reporting, including its deceptively edited video of President Trump, in a speech on the U.S. Senate floor.

Key excerpts of the speech are below.

“The American people were paying a lot for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting before we stopped the subsidies. The American people were paying about $500 million a year. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, they were pikers compared to the BBC.

“In the United Kingdom, every citizen, whether they watch the BBC or not, every citizen has to pay $230 a year. Everybody. It doesn’t matter whether you watch the TV BBC or not. You may just have nothing but streaming services. You still got to pay $230 a year to the BBC. They collect billions of dollars a year. . . . They reach a lot of people, millions and millions of people, not just in the United Kingdom but across the world.

“And it’s important that they be fair, and it’s important that they be balanced, and it’s important that they be accurate. And they’re not. And it’s been a problem for a long time.

“Five or six years ago, at the suggestion of Parliament, which was very upset with the BBC’s bias, they hired a consultant, a smart gentleman. He did a report on how to improve the BBC and make it fairer. It was a huge report. Here is just part of it right here. This isn’t even all of it, but this is just the summary right here. He spent hours and spent a lot of money preparing this report. He sent it to the BBC, and do you know what the BBC did? Nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada. They just continued on doing what they always do, sucking on their teeth, publishing whatever they want.”

. . .

“Now, look, you might be thinking, Mr. President, you know, what’s the big deal? It’s another country. But it’s not right. We may not be brothers and sisters, but we’re certainly first cousins with the United Kingdom. And BBC broadcasts worldwide, and this is simply not right, when the good people of our cousin country are having to pay 200 bucks a year. 

“Now, President Trump has said he’s going to sue the BBC. You know what? I hope he does. I hope he does. This is a disgrace. It’s why I said that it makes me want to stick my head in an oven.”

Watch Kennedy’s speech here.