Adichie describes how she was ambushed by the BBC on arrival, explaining then when she arrived at the studio in Washington DC, the producer said: “You’ll be on a panel with a Trump Supporter. A magazine editor who has supported Donald Trump from the beginning.”

“At no time had I been told that there would be anyone else in the interview, never mind being pitted against a Trump Supporter,” she writes. “I felt upset and ambushed.”

But Adichie didn’t walk away. “I decided not to. I was already there. And I did want to talk about the election, which I had experienced in a deeply personal way. I was still stunned and angry and sad. And I still woke up feeling heavy. Not only because I am an enthusiastic supporter of Hillary Clinton, but also because, with Donald Trump’s win, America just didn’t feel like America anymore. The country that grew from an idea of freedom was now to be governed by an authoritarian demagogue.”

When she spoke to the producer asking why this had happened, they apologised and said there must have been some confusion, but that all they were seeking was balance.

“But sneakily pitting me against a Trump supporter was not about balance – we could have easily been interviewed separately,” she writes in her post.

“It is a deliberately adversarial strategy that news organizations use in the pursuit of what is often called ‘good television.’ It is about entertainment.”

She agreed to do the interview, but on the condition she wouldn’t have to respond directly to anything the Trump supporter said. She wasn’t interested in fighting it out on air. When the interview began, Adichie was determined to conduct the interview without being affected by the Tyrell’s comments. That is, until he called her emotional.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie slams BBC for ‘sneakily pitting’ her against Trump supporter