Director-general Tony Hall sent a memo to staff apologizing for the use of the slur, after the BBC reportedly received more than 18,600 complaints about the use of the word in a news report last month. .

“We are proud of the BBC’s values of inclusion and respect, and have reflected long and hard on what people have had to say about the use of the n-word and all racist language both inside and outside the organisation,” Hall said in the message, according to a copy of the email shared with The Hill. .

Hall said BBC’s “intention was to highlight an alleged racist attack” by using the slur in the report last month about an attack on a young Black man in Bristol, England.