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Comic Relief ditch 'white saviour' celebrities such as Ed Sheeran and Dermot O'Leary from 'poverty porn' fundraising films

• Comic Relief to stop using celebrities to tell stories of people living in poverty
• Comes after clip of Ed Sheeran offering to pay for boy's housing was slammed
• David Lammy MP also criticised charity for portrayal of Africa as poverty-ridden

Comic Relief has stopped using celebrities such as Ed Sheeran and Eddie Redmayne for 'poverty porn' appeals that reinforce white saviour stereotypes.

Liz Warner, CEO of Comic Relief, said the organisation had taken its 'first steps' towards change.

It comes after David Lammy MP slammed the charity for portraying Africa as a continent of poverty-stricken victims and stereotypes.

Aid watchdog SAIH also criticised a video of pop star Sheeran meeting a street boy in Liberia and offering to pay for his housing.

The watchdog said: 'This is a video is about Ed Sheeran. It’s literally poverty tourism.

'The video should be less about Ed shouldering the burden alone but rather appealing to the wider world to step in.

'Massive improvement in the end. But is Ed Sheeran willing to pay for the boy's housing forever?

'What an irresponsible thing to do, and for this video to glorify that is terrible.'

Other fundraising challenges fronted by celebrities included Dermet O'Leary's 24-hour Comic Relief Dance Challenge in 2015.

Ms Warner said Comic Relief had replaced celebrity storytellers with Africans, following a record-breaking 24-hour telethon that raised £55.4million in 2016.

She said it allowed Africans to speak for themselves.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ing-films.html