Actor Lenny Henry has criticised the BBC’s plans to increase on-screen diversity by 5% in the next three years.
Oh, has he decided that artificially creating “diversity” is a bad thing? Has he changed his mind about discriminating against white people?
Er, no.
He wants to ring-fence money to make BAME (the latest gimmicky acronym for ethnic minorities) programmes. Apparently, in London, BAMEs make up around 40%. I’ve news for Mr Henry – London ain’t the UK. And in the rest of the UK, it is significantly less. Indeed, in Midsomer, they don’t exist at all….
Ahem. coming back to the point – ethnic minorities make up about 8% of the population. As we see a fair few black and Asian people on-screen, they are pretty well represented. Especially when we see them in full armour fighting at Agincourt…
No, we do not need to ring-fence money to see more black faces on television. If black actors are up to the job – then hire them. If a white actor is more suited, hire them instead. Selection should be based solely on suitability and nothing else. Certainly it should not be based on skin colour unless that is part of the suitability – I wouldn’t expect to see a pasty-faced Othello, for example. To select on anything other than suitability is discrimination. To select on the basis of skin colour is racism. This, then, makes Lenny Henry a racist…
Poor Lenny, doesn’t he realise that the ‘Blacks’ are now outnumbered by the ‘Browns’ and that the ‘Browns’ are smarter and head for the money which is why they now run the BBC and take up all the highly-paid ‘journalist’ jobs?
If asks nicely he might get a job as a cleaner.
Dear old Lenny the greatest racist of them all, he started off in comedy ripping shit out of the blacks then his dear ex wife Dawn F told him he was being too racist and he should attack good ol whitie and he never looked back.
In the late 90’s early 2000 he became so racist the BBC proceeded to stop giving him TV shows and he was reduced to travel lodge commercials, voice over work and a reduced role in comic relief.
Now he seems intent in becoming a force for the further furtherment of minorities.
The man is a racist biggot but because he is black it’s ok for him to do it, and was he not the one just a few weeks ago bitterly attacking the BBC for lack of ethnics on TV.
What these people seem to forget is that actually you can’t watch a tv ad or a tv show that does not have blacks in it.
For gods sake they even had to write black hobbits into the latest Hobbit movie because the bloody ethnics complained, when I read the hobbit I don’t remember there being any black ones.
Lenny Henry needs to stick to travel lodge and not being funny, hes washed up and needs to shut up.
Tokenism makes me squirm – I am irritated everytime someone ‘ethic’ is shoe-horned inappropriately into something – the BBC are b*gg*ers for doing that. In Medieval Monastery Farm (I think that was the title) which purported to illustrate life around 1500 there were several scenes set in a market place is a small town somewhere in England. A black supporting artists was prominently placed repeatedly bustling around with a basket over her arm. As if black people were just as part of the scene as they are now. If this was set in, say, London or Bristol, in the 18th century I’d have no problem. Surely such blatant tokenism must make some black people feel patronised?
Yes, I’m pretty sure that Henry V’s Duke of York wasn’t black…
Wait till we get a black female Dr Who. it’s coming just you wait and see.
“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” – Chief Justice Roberts.