Lily Allen has revealed the BBC occasionally has to intervene when the podcast she shares with Miquita Oliver turns political.
The Smile singer and former Popworld began presenting the BBC Sounds podcast Miss Me? earlier this year, which sees them reflecting on their friendship as well as passing comment on world events and things that are happening in each of their personal lives.
In a new interview with The Guardian, the pair revealed that, because of the national broadcaster’s strict impartiality guidelines, certain comments don’t make it into the final edit.
Recalling one such incident, Lily said: “I was talking about reproductive rights, and Roe v Wade,” she tells me, “and I said that, at the Met Gala, there were enough people in that room to have really moved the needle about that.”
According to the Brit Award winner, the BBC’s legal team suggested her comment sounded “like a call to action” and, as a result, it had to be removed from the episode.
“I still don’t understand the guidelines,” Lily then admitted, with Miquita responding: “I don’t think it’s our job to dissect them. It would be ridiculous for us not to talk about important shit that’s going on that we care about.”
Miquita also heaped praise on the BBC for being so “supportive” of Miss Me?, with the duo claiming they were the only platform that would give them the freedom to do the podcast as they intended after “shopping it about”.
Miquita Oliver and Lily Allen in 2007Sylvia Linares via Getty Images
Earlier this month, a special edition of Miss Me? saw Billie Eilish joining Lily and Miquita on their podcast.
As well as discussing her new album Hit Me Hard And Soft, Billie also opened up about how one of Lily’s songs led her to make a major change in her life and her experiences of being ghosted.