Ashley Banjo says he received 100 abusive tweets a minute after BLM dance on Britain’s Got Talent
ASHLEY Banjo has revealed he received 100 abusive tweets a minute after his Black Lives Matter routine on Britain’s Got Talent. The 32-year-old depicted the death of George Floyd with a police officer kneeling on him during the show in September, which received 24,500 complaints, making it the most complained about show last year. Speaking […]
ASHLEY Banjo has revealed he received 100 abusive tweets a minute after his Black Lives Matter routine on Britain’s Got Talent.
The 32-year-old depicted the death of George Floyd with a police officer kneeling on him during the show in September, which received 24,500 complaints, making it the most complained about show last year.
Speaking to The Sunday Times about the backlash he had to deal with, he said: “Afterwards I got around 100 abusive tweets a minute. We learnt that it’s OK to tell stories about climate change or the NHS, but not racism.”
He admitted that his dad warned that the routine might spark debate, but he hadn’t expected the level of abuse he ended up getting.
He said: “Dad was worried we were about to put our futures on the line. “You’re doing well, why rock the boat?” But I had to.
“We had millions of eyes on us. I wanted to portray what was going on in the world”.
Ashley’s brother Jordan, 28, previously told The Sun that his kids, two-year-old Cassius and Mimi, one, had been subjected to death threats following the routine.
The dancer also said his luxury car has been covered in cement and people have tried to break into his home.
He said: “When I’m sat at home and you’re telling me really horrible stuff like ‘your kids are so ugly, they should die’, ‘I hope your kids get caught in a house fire’, it’s crazy stuff, mad — especially since last year when we did that performance on BGT. From then, it was like a red rag to a bull.
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“There were some people who had a genuine grievance with it and then some people, when this whole storm was kicking off, tried to antagonise you. I’m talking thousands upon thousands of messages.
“Even my car’s had cement thrown all over it, my Aston. It was crazy.”
As well as the abuse, broadcasting regulator Ofcom were flooded with complaints, which they have decided not to take action on.
ITV also said at the time it stood by the decision to screen Diversity’s routine.