Sir Salman Rushdie ‘pleased' by maximum sentence for attacker
US citizen Hadi Matar was found guilty of attempted murder and assault in February and sentenced this month.
Hadi Matar walks into Chautauqua County court in Mayville, New York (Adrian Kraus/PA)
He was also sentenced to seven years for wounding another man who was on stage with the writer at the time of the attack.
On Monday, Indian-born British author Sir Salman told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I was pleased that he got the maximum available, and I hope he uses it to reflect upon his deeds.'
He also spoke about working with BBC producer Alan Yentob, who died on Saturday, on a 2024 BBC Two programme that featured an artificial intelligence (AI) creation, based on his fictional conversation with Matar that he recalled in his autobiography Knife: Meditations After An Attempted Murder.
Sir Salman said: 'I thought if I was to really meet him, to ask him questions, I wouldn't get very much out of him. I doubt that he would open his heart to me.
'And so I thought, 'well, I could open it by myself. I'd probably do it better than a real conversation would'.'
He added: '(The AI animation) was very startling. I have to say it really certainly made a point.'
Alan Yentob, a former BBC executive and TV presenter (Jonathan Brady/PA)
Sir Salman called former BBC executive and TV presenter Yentob not just an 'unbelievable champion of the arts', but someone who has a 'real gift for friendship'.
'He's one of the giants of British media in the last generation,' he also said.
'I think he will be remembered as a maker of great programmes and as an enabler of great programmes as well.'
Sir Salman recalled Yentob gave him his first break with a programme that saw Sir Ben Kingsley read his book Midnight's Children before he won the Booker Prize, and the publication of his 1988 book The Satanic Verses.
It was The Satanic Verses that saw Sir Salman accused of being blasphemous by hardline Muslims and prompted then Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa calling for his death in 1989.
He later spoofed himself and Yentob, when they appeared to arm wrestle on the BBC satirical programme W1A.
Sir Salman also said that it was 'horrendous' that the Kids Company controversy made him resign as the author added: 'I think it needs to be said, repeatedly, (he was) completely exonerated, and so were all the other directors.'
Yentob served as chairman of the board of trustees for Kids Company, founded by Camila Batmanghelidjh, from 2003 until the collapse of the charity in 2015.
He always insisted there was no conflict of interest in his decision to call Newsnight about its investigation into Kids Company and had not 'abused my position at the BBC'.
During Yentob's tenure at BBC2, Absolutely Fabulous, starring Jennifer Saunders and Dame Joanna Lumley, arts series The Late Show and Have I Got News For You, were commissioned.
He also launched CBBC and CBeebies, commissioned Colin Firth-starring Pride And Prejudice, and in 2024 was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by the King for services to the arts and media.
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Glasgow Times
3 minutes ago
- Glasgow Times
Still Game legend revealed thoughts on film rumours
Mark Cox, who played tight Tam Mullen in the popular programme, will share his stories, memories, and 'loads of laughs' at his brand-new show in the city. The 53-year-old Glaswegian will host the event at Woodside Hall in the city's North on Saturday, October 25, at 6pm. Cox will also be hosting shows in several towns and cities across Scotland. The TV star is well-known for starring in Still Game, Chewin' The Fat, and Dept. Q, which is a British crime thriller on Netflix. READ MORE: Still Game cast members announced exciting Glasgow show READ MORE: Michelle McManus reunites with Still Game stars for smiley snap Ahead of his stint of shows, Cox shared his thoughts on the Still Game movie rumours, which circulated earlier this year, while also revealing what it was like growing up in Glasgow. In January 2025, Ford Kiernan, who played Jack Jarvis in the sitcom, addressed rumours that the comedy would be returning as a film. The co-creator of the programme claimed there would be 'no film', while quashing the rumour, saying it was 'crap'. However, Cox has now said the rumours should be 'put to rest'. Speaking to the Glasgow Times, Cox said: "There's been talk of how you would even do a movie. Do they work, comedy movies like that? "I don't know. I don't even know where that rumour started." (Image: Newsquest) Meanwhile, the Craiglang icon, who currently resides in the Southside, reminisced about his younger days and growing up in the city. He said: "I grew up in Springboig in the East End, not far from Carntyne and Easterhouse. "I went to the Glasgow Schools Youth Theatre at around 14, and I fell in love with that. I knew right away it was what I'd love to do." Before the funnyman began his acting career, he worked in several 'normal jobs', with one being in the city's Tron Theatre. 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The Herald Scotland
17 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
From MasterChef to Trump, victims are pawns used to destroy careers
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But as someone who doesn't, the approach felt quite superficial, an empty exercise in handwringing. There was no sense that what happened on the programme was not a one-off incident involving a couple of mavericks, but part of a continuum of abuse which flourishes in every institution with a hierarchy rendering those at the top untouchable. We can agonise all we like over whether or not this series of MasterChef, which had been filmed before the decision to axe the hosts was made, should have been shown. (Image: Gregg Wallace) Humiliation PERSONALLY, I feel Wallace and Torode are already ruined — seeing themselves reduced to empty vessels merely compounds their humiliation. But either way, nothing much hangs on the decision. Because the pertinent question is not: how do we ensure these particular presenters get their just deserts? But: how do we create an environment in which sexual/sexist and racist language is no longer tolerated? It feels like we are trapped on a conveyor belt of scandals. Every single time, this is how it unfolds: the predatory behaviour of one individual — Huw Edwards, Russell Brand, Philip Schofield — is exposed. The people on whose watch the offences were committed throw their hands up in horror. The individuals offer up a handful of lukewarm apologies cum-excuses. 'I'm sorry, but I was suffering from stress'; 'I'm sorry, but I have been diagnosed with autism'. Or they seek to downplay them as "unwise, but not illegal'. Or they deny the allegations altogether, describing them as 'hurtful'. Notwithstanding their excuses, they are suspended, then sacked. The BBC (or other body because — think Neil Gaiman — this is not confined to broadcasting) engages in a brief period of self-flagellation and faux introspection. Perhaps it holds a review, berates itself for the failings the review identifies. A politician or two may weigh in. On this occasion Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told the world she would be boycotting the MasterChef series. Someone expresses a view that the perpetrator was 'hiding in plain sight'. And then the band wagon moves on. Until the next time. And so long as the focus is on rooting out the bad apples instead of tackling the source of the rot, there will always *be* a next time Across the Atlantic, the US is caught up in its own navel-gazing, albeit with more serious offences and much higher stakes. There, the pressure on Donald Trump to release the 'Epstein files' is growing even amongst his own base. Last week, a Republican-controlled committee subpoenaed the Justice Department to hand them over. Read more Dani Garavelli: Once upon a time, Trump and Jeffery Epstein, the former financier accused of sex trafficking, were friends. "I've known Jeff for 15 years,' Trump once enthused. 'Terrific guy. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.' (Image: President Donald Trump) Epstein list AFTER they fell out, Trump turned on him, amplifying claims of a cover-up and the existence of a 'client list' to help win himself a second term. This may have been a bit rash given erstwhile buddy Elon Musk's tweet, later deleted, suggesting the president's name was on it. Since then, Trump has changed his tune, insisting the whole affair is a hoax. The swamp will not be drained, it seems, so long as this great hippo POTUS is wallowing in the mud. Epstein was awaiting trial on multiple sex trafficking charges when he was found dead in his cell (suicide or foul play? We may never know). His partner Ghislaine Maxwell is now serving a 20-year sentence for grooming young girls for him to pass around. Earlier this year, one of their victims, Virginia Giuffre, took her own life. Most of the recent reporting on Epstein has centred on what the mounting pressure means for Trump's presidency. Last week brought a flurry of stories on the White House's strategy of 'damage limitation,' and on the jarring juxtaposition of these two events: Maxwell's alleged confirmation to the Justice Department that she never saw Trump do anything 'concerning' with Epstein, and her transfer a week later to a minimum security camp. Such coverage is important. It underlines the difficulty of obtaining justice if those suspected of wrongdoing remain in charge. Maxwell is hardly going to implicate a man who holds the keys to her future liberty, is she? Survivors silenced AND yet absent from discourse, as so often, on both the part of the administration and some sections of the press, is any sense of the toll the renewed publicity is taking on the remaining victims/survivors. 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Their pain is being weaponised by people less concerned with the dismantling of harmful, outdated attitudes than with who is currently holding the levers of power and in whose interests it is being exercised. Ridding the world of one more terrible leader — while deeply satisfying in the short term - won't make the world better for women; nor will commodifying their suffering for use in the public arena. Treating the sexual harassment of women as a political 'gotcha' - a means to an end, however welcome - won't tackle misogyny and might actually fuel it.
The Guardian
34 minutes ago
- The Guardian
TV tonight: the wife of a serial killer speaks out in a grim documentary
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