Swedish public broadcaster SVT has removed false claims about jazz pianist Jan Johansson from an episode of its program 'Messiah och kulturkanon'. In the original version, artist Lisa Nilsson stated that Johansson was a tormented soul who consoled himself with substances or alcohol, and music professor Mattias Lundberg also described him as a tormented soul. Johansson's son Anders Johansson refuted these claims, saying his father was a teetotaler.
SVT cut the comments from the episode after the family's objection. Lisa Nilsson apologized, attributing the error to a childhood memory mix-up with another jazz musician. Mattias Lundberg said he did not intend to fall into a cliché about artistic suffering.
his father was a teetotaler
Emelie Persson, the executive producer for the program, said it was a mistake not to fact-check the claims and that SVT takes responsibility.
attributing the error to a childhood memory mix-up with another jazz musician
he did not intend to fall into a cliché about artistic suffering
it was a mistake not to fact-check the claims and that SVT takes responsibility