Ofcom has been flooded with complaints after a Bridgerton star told ITV that the view of Buckingham Palace balcony was “terribly white” on Coronation Day. The Mail has more.
Numerous people have taken to Twitter to voice their outrage towards Adjoa Andoh’s views during ITV’s coverage of King Charles on Saturday.
One commenter slammed Ms. Andoh’s comments as “ridiculous”, tweeting: “How can she get away with that? Anyone of white colour would have to make a public apology.”
A spokesman for Ofcom told MailOnline: “Any complaints we receive on this issue will be assessed against our broadcast rules, before we decide whether to investigate or not.'”
The Netflix star has insisted that she “didn’t mean to upset anyone” after sparking backlash amidst the crowning of King Charles and Queen Camilla.
As millions tuned in to watch the newly crowned King and Queen wave down to crowds on The Mall with the rest of the Royal Family, Ms. Andoh left her ITV co-stars stunned with her comments which have been described by some as “appalling”.
The star, whose father was of Ghanaian origin, was commentating for ITV on its live Coronation coverage hosted by Tom Bradby and Julie Etchingham when she said of the event: “We have gone from the rich diversity of the Abbey to a terribly white balcony. I am very struck by that. I am also looking at those younger generations and thinking: “‘hat are the nuances that they will inhabit when they grow?'”
Ms. Andoh, 60, who plays Lady Danbury in Bridgerton, left fellow pundit Myleene Klass – who was sitting next to her – appearing bewildered as she made her comments.
One viewer wrote online: “@ITV after the racist comment by Adjoa Andoh yesterday, I have now put in my complaint to Ofcom.”
One more viewer suggested he had also complained: “Was going to let it go but I’m really angry, so thought no for a change. Things like this need challenging.”
Defending her statement on BBC Radio 4 yesterday, the actress she said she “didn’t mean to upset anybody”. She told Paddy O’Connell:
I think I upset a few people yesterday I was talking about the day and how marvellous it was and then looking at the balcony at the end. And I suddenly went ‘oo it’s so white’ – because the day had been so so mixed. I didn’t mean to upset anybody, I just was…
O’Connell then interjected, telling her she had “nothing to apologise for”, adding, “You haven’t upset anyone”, before quickly moving on.
A flood of complaints to the regulator and a huge Twitter backlash would suggest otherwise, Paddy. Though presumably what he means is, you have upset anyone who matters. Any of ‘us’.
Andoh has probably been taken by surprise by the backlash. She’s used to inhabiting a world where those kinds of anti-white comments are par for the course and a signal of correct thinking. Within the woke echo chambers of social media and the entertainment industry casual anti-white racism bemoaning the “terribly white” state of this, that and the other has become commonplace. So I suspect her surprise may be genuine: when these kinds of prejudicial sentiments get expressed to a wider public, elite groupthinkers can get a shock that normal people do actually regard nasty comments based on race and skin colour to be offensive – even when that skin colour is ‘white’. Funny, that.
No apology, though.
Worth reading in full.
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