Forthright and opinionated actress says she was told she was dropped from the panel show because ‘It’s all a bit noisy out there for us’
Taking action: more than 50,000 people have already signed a petition in support of Nadia Sawalha
Nadia Sawalha has threatened legal action against her erstwhile employers, ITV, after she was “cancelled” as a regular panellist from daytime programme Loose Women.
Sawalha first appeared as a panel member on the lunchtime programme in 1999, shortly after featuring in the BBC soap EastEnders. Known for being forthright and outspoken, she had been a regular on the show, which can get up to 1million viewers each weekday, since 2013.
Crystal Palace-based Sawalha is married to Mark Adderley, who in May was elected to Croydon Council despite being suspended as a member of the Green Party over allegations of antisemitism and support for terrorism.
Adderley and Sawalha have recently won a libel case against the publishers of the Daily Mail and Metro newspapers for publishing similar allegations, for which they received their legal costs and a substantial settlement. Yet Adderley continues to be suspended by the Green Party’s national HQ and sits at Croydon Town Hall as an “independent” (albeit as part of a council group with his Croydon Green colleagues).
Complete capitulation: how the Mail’s apology to Adderley and Sawalha appears online
Actress and TV presenter Sawalha’s career, meanwhile, also remains in a state of limbo, despite her legal victory and exoneration with the Mail newspapers.
Yesterday morning, she released a video on Instagram in which she claimed that ITV dropped her because she had spoken in support of Palestinian rights.
“It’s all a bit noisy out there for us,” Sawalha claims was the reason given by ITV for dropping her from the show.
Panel members on Loose Women are reported to be paid at least £3,000 per episode, and might typically appear up to eight times in a month, depending on schedules and rostering.
A pre-action letter to ITV claims that the network “subjected Nadia to direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment because of her protected philosophical beliefs”.
Sawalha said she had become “the target of an escalating campaign of smears, complaints, hostile media coverage and targeted calls to have me removed from Loose Women“. Sawalha and Adderley have been outspoken and frequent critics of the Israeli government and its genocide in Gaza and the illegal occupation by settlers in the West Bank.
A group of Jewish executives in the entertainment industry recently sent a dossier to ITV, urging the channel not to reinstate Sawalha, citing what they called “repeated examples of conspiratorial rhetoric, inflammatory commentary, disinformation and antisemitic discourse”.
Insta appeal: Sawalha made her statement yesterday on Instagram
Sawalha says he has never discussed the situation in Palestine when appearing on Loose Women, and that she has neither been shown the dossier nor given any opportunity to respond to the accusations. She denies antisemitism.
“ITV have taken me on and off Loose Women a number of times,” she said.
She said she “began speaking publicly in support of Palestine in December 2023”, two months after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and Israel’s reprisals in Gaza.
“The reason for [my removal] was, and I quote, ‘It’s all a bit noisy out there for us’.”
She said: “ITV have continued to take me on and off Loose Women, forever changing the goalposts whilst also saying they couldn’t guarantee they wouldn’t take me off again as it would depend on what was said.”
She said that she was “hired for being an opinionated woman on a discussion show and I’ve never brought up or spoken about Palestine directly on the show”.
In their statement following the Daily Mail settlement, Sawalha and Adderley said: “To characterise criticism of Israel, Netanyahu or Zionism as antisemitic is quite simply wrong . Zionism is a political ideology and Netanyahu has an [International Criminal Court] warrant out for his arrest for allegedly committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“To target us and so many others for daring to speak up against these atrocities is shameful.
The European Legal Support Center, which supports pro-Palestinian cases, has written to ITV on Sawalha’s behalf, alleging she has been discriminated against because of her “anti-Zionist beliefs, which are protected under the Equality Act 2010”.
A petition “Stand with Nadia Sawalha!” has been signed more than 50,000 times in the first day since it was posted online. A previous petition, calling for her to be removed from Loose Women, drew 10,000 signatures.
You can view the petition by clicking here.
Read more: ‘It put my family at great risk and under huge mental anguish’
Read more: Councillor Adderley still left waiting for Green Party’s decision
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