98,000 People Rush to Defense of Arts Trustee Misan Harriman in Wake of Antisemitism Accusations
6May 20, 2026
In the wake of accusations of antisemitism being leveled at British-Nigerian arts trusteeMisan Harriman, more than98,000 peoplehave submitted complaints to the UK Independent Press Standards Organisation in Harriman’s defense, marking the highest-ever amount of complaints over a single issue ever made to the watchdog organization.
Separately from the complaint, activist Greta Thunberg and artists Tracey Emin and Peter Doig are among the artists and prominent figures that have signed anopen letterwhich decries the “dishonest smear campaign” by right-wing outlets targeting Harriman.
Harriman, an Oscar-nominated photographer and Southbank Centre chair, is a nominee for Amnesty UK’s People’s Human Rights Champion and a longtime advocate for social justice who’s regularly photographed pro-Palestine marches in London. Related Smithsonian Restores Mention of Trump’s Impeachments at National Portrait Gallery Seattle Art Museum Workers Announce Unionization
Specifically, the Daily Mail and the Telegraph have attacked him for sharing a post on social media that questioned why a Muslim victim who was targeted prior to a recent attack on two Jewish men in Golders Green—a predominantly Jewish North London suburb—was being ignored by the police and the media. The Telegraph subsequently accused Harriman of sharing a Golders green “conspiracy.”
A Labour member of Parliament, David Taylor, has since suggested that Harriman be removed from his Southbank Centre chair position. Harriman’s colleagues at Southbank Centre have defended him. Libby Savill, the deputy chair of Southbank Centre, outright rejected the allegations. “Over all this time we have observed him to be determined in his opposition to racism in all its forms, including antisemitism.”
“I’ve organized for Black Lives Matter, championed women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, transgender protections, and for the Ukrainians during the war, and no one has had a problem until I started speaking out against Israel’s genocide in Palestine,” Harriman told Hyperallergic. “To have by far the most complaints in British newspaper history means the people have had enough.” He continued: “If the Independent Press Standards Organisation has any legitimacy, it must not let the impunity of the right-wing press continue in this way.”