Channel 4 news has been banned from events held by Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party.
The six-week ban was reportedly triggered after the broadcaster aired an investigation into Farage last week, revealing he had been bankrolled by Leave.EU co-founder Aaron Banks to the tune of £450,000.
Responding to the investigation, Farage labelled the broadcaster “political activists”, adding that the organisation had “lost respect for Channel 4 News”.
He told the Press Association: “This is a two way street – the relationship between people in politics and the media is always going to be a slightly tense one, obviously, but it only works if everybody ultimately has a bit of respect for each other.”
Ben de Pear, editor of Channel 4 News, earlier confirmed the move on Twitter, adding that until the ban, the programme “had full access”.
He tweeted: “We hope to resolve our access ban from Brexit Party events ASAP.”
Farage said Brexit Party chairman Richard Tice had asked to sit down with the broadcaster to talk about the issue.
“We’re not being silly about this, we’re just saying let’s try and get this relationship on an even keel,” he added.
Tottenham MP David Lammy is leading calls for other outlets to boycott Brexit Party events in solidarity with the channel, with several similar tweets receiving thousands of likes on Twitter.
“All media should boycott Brexit Party events if they really blacklisted Channel 4 News for exposing the truth,” he tweeted.
Guardian columnist Marina Hyde called the move “Trump bullsh*t”.
The channel’s investigation, which aired last Thursday, revealed that Banks funded Farage in the year following the EU referendum.
The businessman was also found to have funded a multi-million pound Chelsea flat through one of his companies, a £30,000 Land Rover Discovery plus £20,000 driver, and gifts including furniture, council tax and bills, all for Farage.
Hundreds of thousands of pounds were also splashed on promoting Farage to American audiences.
Banks is currently being investigated by the National Crime Agency over the source of his funding for the Leave.EU campaign.
Farage has previously denied that Banks made any donations to the Brexit Party.
The Brexit Party has been contacted for comment.