Misan Harriman to resign as chair of Southbank Center | Southbank Centre

Misan Harriman will not seek another term as chairman of the Southbank Center and will step down in the autumn after a month under intense pressure from the allegations. conspiracy about the attack on Golders Green.

Harriman, who previously held the position starting in 2021confirmed in social media that he will not continue to be a chair beyond the autumn.

He said: “It’s obvious that my time is up … I had already thought of this madness to do two parts.

“It’s going to take a long time to find out who will be the next chair, and that will start at a later date, and I will tell you more about the exact dates and times probably in the fall.”

Harriman praised the core community and highlighted Harry Styles’ Meltdown festival, Anish Kapoor’s new show at the Hayward and Nan Goldin’s upcoming show as evidence of a healthy organization.

He called a Southbank Centrewhich is celebrating its 75th year in 2026, “11 sacred acres” and he said that he is “still proud to be the chair”.

His departure comes after a month of intense scrutiny and criticism of his actions on social media, although Southbank confirmed that Harriman had made the decision to leave in January.

Harriman has over 500,000 followers on Instagram after rising to fame as an artist. of Black Lives Matter protests. In May, he was accused by the Telegraph of sharing a post with a conspiracy about the Golders Green attack because it called into question the amount of information given to the Muslim victim, Ishmail Hussein.

Harriman’s critics said the repost risked undermining the attack, with newspaper columnists calling for him to step down as chairman of Southbank.

He was also criticized after the results of the local elections in England, for commenting on Reform voters. Another subject said: “Southbank Center boss ‘compares Reform success to Holocaust’”, Harriman quoted Susan Sontag in a video giving her thoughts after the Reformers’ findings.

He said: “He said that considering the Holocaust, 10% of people in any population are cruel no matter what, and 10% are kind no matter what – this is important – the other 80% can be moved in any direction.

“It’s a very serious way of looking at us, based on the results of the election yesterday, it’s something that I think is a big issue.”

A Times editor called his online comments “vile” and “absolutely disgusting”.

“Mr. Harriman is the head of a prominent government-funded organization. This position heightens his sense of privacy,” it wrote. “His claims could damage the Southbank Center’s reputation and drive supporters away.”

Greta Thunberg, Tracey Emin and Gary Lineker were among those who signed an open letter in support of Harriman, after he said “malicious campaign by deception” and the media.

The culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, received letters from MPs criticizing Harriman and supporting him, with a letter signed by colleagues and MPs saying that there is a “disgusting campaign” against Harriman that “seems to stoke anger in order to create an increasingly anti-cultural environment”.

The Southbank chairman lodged a complaint with the Independent Press Standards Organization (Ipso), the media watchdog, about the publication, which included pieces from the Times, Telegraph and GB News.

An online campaign in support of Harriman garnered more than 100,000 responses.

Harriman did not respond to the accusations in the video other than to refer to “this madness”, and a spokesperson for the Southbank Center told the Guardian that his departure had nothing to do with the latest row of “antisemitism”.

The spokesman said: “Misan confirmed with the vice-chairman in January that he will not seek a third term and will step down at the end of 2026.

“Planning for a replacement is underway, and further details will be confirmed following our AGM in July.”