Ashley Banjo Hits Out At Jim Davidson’s ‘Disgusting Racist’ Comments In Explosive TV Interview
Published
Diversity star Ashley Banjo has been praised for holding Jim Davidson accountable for his remarks about the dance troupe, after he confronted the comedian in a sit-down interview.
The new ITV documentary Ashley Banjo: Britain in Black and White saw the dancer explore the backlash to Diversity’s performance on Britain’s Got Talent last year which saw them reference the murder of George Floyd and take the knee in support of the Black Lives Matter campaign.
As part of the show, Banjo arranged to sit down with Jim Davidson, who has been the subject of controversy over repeated remarks made over the year and was a prominent critic of Diversity’s routine, posting a video titled ‘Who Needs Diversity’ in which he called the troupe’s performance ‘ridiculous’ and ‘indulgent’ and made a series of explicit and often racist remarks.
During the interview, Banjo told Davidson he found the video to be racist ‘in every single way,’ saying ‘it was personal and racist. I’m from this country, I love this country, I’m from a mixed race background.’
Davidson responded by claiming his rant had nothing to do with race, and telling Banjo that the performance had helped to ‘diffuse’ tensions in the country, saying ‘people are supporting you of all different races, I support Black Lives Matter, I don’t support Black Lives Matter the movement, I support the statement. You’ve won me over.’
However as the interview progressed, Davidson grew increasingly angry, claiming that his issue was not so much with the subject matter, but instead the fact that the routine had been performed ‘on a light entertainment show on a Saturday night,’ per Metro.
Despite Banjo’s repeated attempts to engage Davidson in discussion, the comedian refused to acknowledge the harm his words had caused, and eventually stormed out of the interview after telling Banjo to ‘stick to dancing’ and mistakenly calling him ‘George.’
The documentary prompted many fans to take to social media to praise Banjo, with one person tweeting ‘Not many people would have a face off with Jim Davidson, I admire Ashley Banjo for doing that.’
‘Huge credit to Ashley Banjo even being in the same room as Jim Davidson. I fear JD represents far too many ignorant, poorly educated white nationalists, who are in total denial of racism existing in the UK,’ another wrote.
Following the interview, Banjo told viewers that he’d been left ‘disappointed’ with the encounter saying ‘I wanted to have a chat, a constructive, even if not palatable chat about racism. And he’s telling me that I didn’t listen. I was listening, I just didn’t agree.’
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Topics: Film and TV, Black Lives Matter, Diversity, Now
