{"id":70791,"date":"2026-06-26T06:51:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T06:51:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/70791\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T06:51:04","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T06:51:04","slug":"southbank-centre-chair-to-step-down-amid-antisemitism-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/70791\/","title":{"rendered":"Southbank Centre chair to step down amid antisemitism controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The chair of the United Kingdom\u2019s<\/a> largest arts institution will step down this fall following months of controversy over allegations of antisemitism and his social media activity related to Israel.<\/p>\n

Misan Harriman, 48, the chair of the publicly funded Southbank Centre in central London<\/a> that hosts millions of visitors per year, publicly stated earlier this week that he would not seek another term.<\/p>\n

In a since-deleted social media<\/a> post, Harriman stated on Monday that his departure had long been planned. \u201cIt\u2019s semi-public knowledge that my term is coming to an end anyway,\u201d he said, according to The Guardian. \u201cI had decided way before this madness that I was going to do two terms.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cI came on just after Covid, two terms, then handing the baton to whoever the next chairman will be. We will find out in due course, and of course, I am going to support that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Southbank Centre said that it had been informed earlier in the year of Harriman\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

\"ChildrenChildren play in a fountain entitled ‘Appearing Rooms’ by artist Jeppe Hein at the Southbank Centre on August 19, 2011 in London, England. (credit: OLI SCARFF\/GETTY IMAGES)Misan confirmed he will step down autumn 2026<\/p>\n

\u201cMisan confirmed with the deputy chair in January that he would not be seeking a third term and would step down in the autumn of 2026. Succession planning is already underway, with further details to be confirmed\u201d in July, the Centre told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.<\/p>\n

In May, more than 64 MPs<\/a> and peers wrote to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy asking the government to open an investigation into Harriman\u2019s behavior, expressing concern that his public comments \u201chave not been treated with sufficient scrutiny, particularly given their implications for public trust and community confidence,\u201d in a publicly funded institution.<\/p>\n

Nandy later confirmed that the Charity Commission and Arts Council England were examining complaints, alongside an internal review by the Southbank Centre.<\/p>\n

Nandy\u2019s office told JTA that she \u201casked officials to be in touch with the Southbank Centre, Arts Council and the Charity Commission on the issue,\u201d but noted that the Southbank Centre was conducting its own investigation.<\/p>\n

The Centre told JTA that \u201cAs with any allegation or concern raised about our staff, we are following our established internal processes carefully and in line with our governance obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harriman came to prominence in 2020 for photographing a Black Lives Matter protest in London<\/p>\n

Harriman, a photographer and self-described social activist, came to prominence in 2020 for photographing a Black Lives Matter protest in London. He has overseen the Southbank Centre since 2021, but it\u2019s only in recent months that he has faced increasing scrutiny over his public and social media comments, including referring to Israel as an \u201coccupying power\u201d and accusing the country of genocide.<\/p>\n

In April, when two Jewish men were stabbed in the heavily Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Golders Green in London, Harriman posted on social media about a third victim who was Muslim. He wrote, \u201cWait, so there was a 3rd victim on the SAME DAY who was Muslim?! And our press isn\u2019t reporting it? Even the Met Police didn\u2019t mention the Muslim victim in its X post?! What is going on @metpolice_uk ?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Muslim victim did in fact receive coverage, and the focus on the Jewish victims stemmed from the alleged attacker\u2019s anti-Jewish animus.<\/p>\n

Then, following Reform UK\u2019s gains in the May 7 local elections, Harriman \u00a0shared a post that critics said compared the party\u2019s success to the events that led to the Holocaust.<\/p>\n

The post prompted Reform MP Robert Jenrick to respond on X, \u201cComparing the millions who voted for Reform on Thursday to the Nazis is disgusting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harriman\u2019s office, however, referred JTA to a New World article that spoke of a \u201cconfected outrage\u201d against Harriman given that he had made the decision to step down before any of the antisemitism allegations. The article also notes that Harriman condemned the attacks in Golders Green in a social media post.<\/p>\n

His office also sent a link to one of Harriman\u2019s posts of photos he took, which states, \u201cOur Jewish brother and sisters are out with us in numbers\u201d with people carrying \u201cJewish Antizionist\u201d and \u201cJewish Bloc for Palestine\u201d banners.<\/p>\n

Harriman has received support from many prominent activists and artists who signed a petition in May, organized by The Good Law Project. The petition accused right-wing media of running a smear campaign against Harriman.<\/p>\n

Those who signed included activist Greta Thunberg, actors Aimee Lou Wood, Mark Ruffalo, and Susan Sarandon, director Yorgos Lanthimos, and journalist Mehdi Hassan.<\/p>\n

Following Harriman\u2019s announcement, the Campaign Against Antisemitism praised the decision, posting on X, \u201cMr Harriman\u2019s decision to step down \u2013 supposedly always his intention \u2013 is welcome. This saga has exposed a rot in the arts world. We hope that his successor will be more worthy of the post.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The chair of the United Kingdom\u2019s largest arts institution will step down this fall following months of controversy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[93,6188,142,5,6],"class_list":["post-70791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","tag-antisemitism","tag-arts","tag-social-media","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116815088059129803","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}