October 24, 2011
Four-part channel 4 drama Top Boy which starts on Monday 31st October has been criticised by the mayor of Hackney Jules Pipe for perpetuating negative stereotypes of black people. Hackney council also banned filming of the drama on its council estates. Jules Pipe said of the decision, “Estates aren’t film sets – they are people’s homes. Hackney’s film office… considers whether the portrayal would have a detrimental effect on the reputation of the area. In this case, it was not fair on residents… having […]
April 29, 2010
Via Digital Spy Nigerian playwright Wole Soyinka has branded a BBC documentary about the slums in Lagos “condescending” and “colonialist”. Aired on BBC Two, three-episode mini-series Welcome To Lagos tracked people living in the poorest areas of the Nigerian city to celebrate their industriousness. Speaking to The Guardian, Nobel Laureate Soyinka said that the documentary was “the most tendentious and lopsided programme” he had ever seen. Despite the series receiving critical praise in the UK, Soyinka said that it demonstrated “the worst […]
June 4, 2009
I reported earlier on that a journalist working for The Metro newspaper faced a wave of criticism today, after he asked UK rapper Bashy if he thought “music was a way out for young black people now, like boxing used to be”, during an interview. Since then the newspaper has received a wave of complaint emails and reader Susan Younis has kindly forwarded me the response email she received from The Metro’s Feature Editor Kieran Meeke. Hi Susan Thank you for your letter and my apologies that you found the question […]
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