[Crimson Dynamo]

Lenny Henry Comic Relief will stop sending white celebrities to Africa after Stacey Dooley backlash




Lenny Henry has confirmed that his Comic Relief charity will no longer send
white celebrities to Africa after it was accused of perpetuating the ‘white
saviour’ stereotype. The charity has come under fire previously with Stacey
Dooley at the centre of controversy last year when she posted a photo of
herself carrying a Black child from Uganda with the caption ‘obsessed’. In
2017, Ed Sheeran’s campaign video was branded ‘poverty porn’ after he was
filmed paying for a young boy’s housing in Liberia. Comic Relief videos are
typically filmed on the ground in disadvantaged African countries with
celebrities, who are often white, usually seen meeting local children to Lenny
said: ‘A lot has changed over Comic Relief’s 35 years, and so the way we
raise money and talk about the issues we are here to tackle, and the people
we are here to support, must change as well.


Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2020/10/28/sir-l...5/?ito=cbshare

[utopianman]

self defeating nonsense. will they still send black comedians?

[Amy Jade]

This is quite sad

[utopianman]

Originally Posted by Amy Jade

This is quite sad

A lot of people now consider lenny henry a racist, I agree.

[Marsh.]

The Stacey Dooley comment is completely inappropriate but stopping sending white celebs is just ridiculous.

Edit - Just read the complete article. Sounds fine to me.

[arista]

As if it will get them more money


Not From Me.

[Crimson Dynamo]

Lets just scrap the whole sorry affair and concentrate on this country. As a country we have more than done our bit for that continent

[Amy Jade]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

The Stacey Dooley comment is completely inappropriate but stopping sending white celebs is just ridiculous.

I dont think her comment was bad, possibly a tad insensitive because she was there to raise awareness but it wasn't near as bad as people made it seem.

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by utopianman

self defeating nonsense. will they still send black comedians?

...no I don’t believe the charity will, actually...it’s being slanted a bit as ‘white celebrities’ by the media from what I can see...but it’s more about a story being told by local people...and I totally agree with that, with what Lenny Henry is saying...

Sir Lenny continued: ‘Investing in local talent across Africa to tell stories from their communities is great and a much-needed step forward but as always there is more that can be done. The energy and passion for change and new perspectives is there in bucket loads.’ African people don’t want us to tell their stories for them, what they need is more agency, a platform and partnership.’

[Zizu]

Originally Posted by Amy Jade

I dont think her comment was bad, possibly a tad insensitive because she was there to raise awareness but it wasn't near as bad as people made it seem.

Yes ... she’s always come across as a very caring person in her documentaries


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by Amy Jade

I dont think her comment was bad, possibly a tad insensitive because she was there to raise awareness but it wasn't near as bad as people made it seem.

I don't think she did it on purpose but it was grossly inappropriate.

[Ammi]

...I just don’t think that any celebrities should be travelling to these countries and making a huge carbon footprint in doing so...when the charity should be supporting local filmmakers to film the stories their own way...

[utopianman]

If such comments as his were made about any other group of people, the person would be labelled a racist, would lose their jobs and may even go to jail.
He is a disgrace and he not only proves himself to be a racist, but also to show he doesnt relaly care if this loses all those starving children millions from the unwanted whote people. He also doesnt go on to say whethere black celebrities should be allowed to visit. david lammy condemned white saviours and thats where this idiocy steam rolled. someone should have stood up to that idiot right at the start before this tragedy snowballs. Reverse racism does exist and racist, bigotry, xenophobia exists in every countries of the world between people of all colours and ethnicities and cultures and a lot of it is not the over simplistic white on black racism either.

[utopianman]

Originally Posted by Ammi

...I just don’t think that any celebrities should be travelling to these countries and making a huge carbon footprint in doing so...when the charity should be supporting local filmmakers to film the stories their own way...

even if millions fewer watch and millions less is raised? thats a sacrifice worth making?

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by utopianman

If such comments as his were made about any other group of people, the person would be labelled a racist, would lose their jobs and may even go to jail.
He is a disgrace and he not only proves himself to be a racist, but also to show he doesnt relaly care if this loses all those starving children millions from the unwanted whote people. He also doesnt go on to say whethere black celebrities should be allowed to visit. david lammy condemned white saviours and thats where this idiocy steam rolled. someone should have stood up to that idiot right at the start before this tragedy snowballs. Reverse racism does exist and racist, bigotry, xenophobia exists in every countries of the world between people of all colours and ethnicities and cultures and a lot of it is not the over simplistic white on black racism either.

All this does is illustrate you don't understand what you're talking about.

It's not racist to point out a "white saviour" trope, which is racist itself.

Saying "but, but black people can be racist" makes no difference.

[utopianman]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

All this does is illustrate you don't understand what you're talking about.

It's not racist to point out a "white saviour" trope, which is racist itself.

Saying "but, but black people can be racist" makes no difference.

banning white saviours from raising charity money for starving children is stupid self defeating and racist, its you who havent got a clue marsh.

[Ammi]

...it’s not concerning race at all to support local film makers, rather than U.K. celebrities...it absolutely makes sense...what connection to a life in Africa would a U.K. living celebrity have, rather than local people...

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by utopianman

even if millions fewer watch and millions less is raised? thats a sacrifice worth making?

...I’m not really sure why anyone would choose not to donate because a U.K. celebrity didn’t make a journey to Africa to be filmed...

[Ammi]

...the celebrities will still be telling us to donate anyway, they’ll still be providing the comedy which is a huge part of their fundraising...and the local film makers in the African countries will be playing their part as well and filming authentic local stories... which makes total sense...win/win for all of those who donate...

[Ammi]

...no one is being banned from Comic Relief, though...no one is being excluded in any way...the talent is being used where it’s best and most logically applied ...the celebrities will still be involved but without unnecessary travelling because there are great local film makers who can film the stories out there...and supporting local talents makes the most logical sense to help communities as well...it doesn’t benefit an African community to have a celebrity filming...it does benefit, though...to have a local film maker be involved...

[Denver]

I think the problem is it always became about getting the biggest celebs possible to do the short videos which kind of took away from the importance of them

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by Denver

I think the problem is it always became about getting the biggest celebs possible to do the short videos which kind of took away from the importance of them

Yeah, it became misery porn where half of the video was taken up with filming the celeb sobbing and it becoming more about their pity than the people and causes that it was about.

[utopianman]

Originally Posted by Ammi

...no one is being banned from Comic Relief, though...no one is being excluded in any way...the talent is being used where it’s best and most logically applied ...the celebrities will still be involved but without unnecessary travelling because there are great local film makers who can film the stories out there...and supporting local talents makes the most logical sense to help communities as well...it doesn’t benefit an African community to have a celebrity filming...it does benefit, though...to have a local film maker be involved...

white celebrities are banned from going to africa to make films, youre wrong

[utopianman]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

Yeah, it became misery porn where half of the video was taken up with filming the celeb sobbing and it becoming more about their pity than the people and causes that it was about.

Yes but that has nothing to do with the colour of a persons skin

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Denver

I think the problem is it always became about getting the biggest celebs possible to do the short videos which kind of took away from the importance of them

...yeah, that was always the criticism anyway and it’s something that I’ve never been entirely comfortable with tbh...this way the celebrities can focus on the comedy/entertainment etc and which creates many donations...