Yesterday (Read Here), I posted that presenter Rochelle Humes had announced on Instagram that she was shooting an investigative documentary about why Black women in the UK are four times more likely to die during childbirth (or shortly after), than their Caucasian counterparts.

In response to the Humes announcement, author Candice Brathwaite, who has campaigned about issues regarding Black women and childbirth in the UK for years, shared an Instagram post stating,

“The truth is, up until six weeks ago I thought I was going to present that documentary. I had been contacted in March of 2020. It had been an ongoing discussion for the last 9 months of the year. I’m not sure what happened. But it’s not meant to be”.

This led many to wrongly believe, that Candice had been working on the same documentary, but was later dropped as its host and replaced by Humes. We later found out, that wasn’t the case. Humes has made a documentary exploring the same subject matter with a different production company. Brathwaite was working with a completely different production company, but her project was shelved, while Humes’ Channel 4 project was commissioned. To be clear, Brathwaite WAS NOT involved with the Humes documentary in any way, shape, form or fashion.

HOURS went by before Brathwaite released a statement clarifying the situation. During that time people (Black women in particular) were all over social media, fighting for her honour, citing ‘colourism’, while Humes was getting it in the neck! So much so, she was forced to disable comments on Instagram page.

In her clarification statement, Brathwaite added, her agent approached Humes’ team and asked if she could co-host the Channel 4 documentary with Humes. The answer was “no”, but they did ask Brathwaite to contribute her expertise. She declined the offer.

Why did Brathwaite fail to tell the full story from the start? Why allude to Humes replacing her on a production that she wasn’t even involved in? Why sit back and allow people to run with a narrative that wasn’t warranted on this particular occasion?

In fairness, Candice should present a documentary exploring this serious subject matter, as it is close to her heart. But it is possible that yesterday’s questionable antics may have just done enough to resurrect her project.