Jim Davidson Storms Out Of Racism Debate With Ashley Banjo

Last night (19 October), Ashley Banjo's new documentary - Ashley Banjo: Britain in Black and White - aired on ITV to mark Black History Month. In it, we saw him come face to face with comedian Jim Davidson.

The pair spoke about Davidson's criticism of one of Diversity's dance routines which was inspired by the death of George Floyd in the US.

In a YouTube video - which was titled 'Who needs Diversity?' - Davidson blasted the performance and all that it stood for saying it was 'ridiculous' and 'indulgent'.

As a result, leader of the dance group, Ashley invited Jim to have a debate about race in front of cameras for his documentary.

In the programme, Ashley said: "As far as I'm concerned, that video you made... It was racist in every way, in every single way.

"It was personal and racist. I'm from this country, I love this country, I'm from a mixed race background."

In an attempt to defend himself, Jim insisted that race had nothing to do with what he was saying, explaining that he believed Diversity managed to 'diffuse' tensions with the dance.

He said: "You should know that I believe the outcome from that dance is more than your wildest dreams.

"People in this country who are frightened, old white people if you like, like me, are thinking there's riots going on in Brixton, in south east London where I grew up, there's stuff going on in America that's very unsavoury, everyone's frightened.

"You diffused that. 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."

But as tensions rose, Jim went on: "You did a dance about a crime - a terrible crime - but ignored all the other crimes that are committed by black people because even to report it seems racist."

Ashley replied: "No, what's racist is when you use their skin colour as a reason for crime. Why was his colour relevant?"

When Jim asked: "Can't you see how stupid you're looking?" To which Ashley responded: "That is symbolic of ethnic minorities being oppressed for hundreds of years. It's a different thing."

As Ashley picked up his phone to move on to cover the way Jim spoke about black people with what he described as 'venom', Jim began to sit up off the sofa and remove his microphone.

In an attempt to persuade him to continue their discussion, Ashley said: "I'm only talking about the things you've said."

Following him down the stairs, the dancer added: "Your video is proof of what I did that routine for. It's proof of the racism that's alive and well."