The 61-year-old TV personality claimed she was removed from the show following an “escalating campaign and smears” calling for her to be removed
Loose Women presenter Nadia Sawalha has threatened legal action against ITV for taking her “on and off” the panel show, claiming she was dropped over her support for Palestine.
The 61-year-old TV personality claimed she was removed from the show following an “escalating campaign and smears” calling for her to be removed.
Along with the lawsuit, Sawalha launched a petition calling for ITV to publicly apologise and reinstate her on the panel show which has already garnered more than 20,000 signatures.
In a video shared on Instagram, she said: “I want to say how sad I am that it’s got to this. Believe me, I have appealed to ITV’s hearts and minds, but to no avail.
“After I began speaking publicly in support of Palestine in December 2023, I became the target of an escalating campaign of smears, complaints, hostile media coverage and targeted calls to have me removed from Loose Women.”
The panellist said she was removed from the programme in July 2026 and accused ITV of “forever changing the goalposts”.
She said: “They couldn’t guarantee they wouldn’t take me off again, as it would depend on what was said, even though I’m hired for being an opinionated woman on a discussion show and I’ve never brought up or spoken about Palestine directly on the show.
“This is the tip of the iceberg of what’s been happening.”
The presenter launched a petition with the aim of showing there are “many more people with us than against us”.
She added: “It’s not just me that has been targeted like this from my beliefs. There are the teachers, doctors, nurses, charity and supermarket workers, and students who have also spoken according to their conscience and have suffered a similar fate as me.
“Enough is enough.
“We need to send a clear message to ITV and other groups and corporations that we won’t be scared into silence, and no-one should be bullied out of their job for following their conscience and speaking out against brutal oppression.”
ITV has been contacted for comment.
Sawalha joined the ITV show in 1999 as one of the original panellists alongside Kaye Adams, Jane Moore and Karren Brady.
She took a maternity break in 2002 and returned to the programme in 2013.
She is also known for playing Annie Palmer on EastEnders in the late 1990s.
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