Alesha Dixon hits back at BGT row and tells trolls ‘kiss my black a**’

Alesha Dixon has waded into the Britain’s Got Talent Black Lives Matter row as complaints yesterday soared past 10,000 – telling trolls: “They can kiss my black a**”.

Diversity’s performance on last Saturday night’s show has become the second most-complained about TV moment of the decade.

New figures released yesterday show the performance, inspired by the death of George Floyd, has been complained about 10,267 times.

Now Diversity dancer Ashley Banjo – who is standing in as a judge on BGT while Simon Cowell is recovering from back surgery – has been backed by fellow judge Alesha.

It comes as Ashley shared a message he had been sent on Instagram that included a picture of himself alongside boxer Anthony Joshua and Formula 1 racer Lewis Hamilton.

It said: “Dear Joshua and Banjo and any other Black public figures. We the Great British Public will only support you if you entertain us and do not say anything about racism.”

After Ashley hit out at the message, Alesha replied: ““They can kiss my black a**”. “

It comes as Ashley’s brother Jordan, 27, said the group had been “bombarded with messages and articles of horrible stuff about us, about our families, about how even now Diversity not diverse enough because there’s only five white people in it.”

He added: “I feel really anxious and worried saying something like black lives matter when that’s all we want man, love and positivity. No one is saying only black lives matter, as a son and as a dad. it’s all positivity and love, let’s keep it moving.”

The routine saw a white police officer kneel on star Ashley echoing the killing of unarmed black man George Floyd, while other dancers performed with police riot shields.

The first half of the performance was set to spoken word poem The Great Realisation by Tomfoolery, which reflects on the coronavirus lockdown.

The narration then continued: “But while we all were hidden, under orders of the Prime Minister, people dusted off their instincts and noticed something more sinister.

“Another disease, deep rooted in our system, fear, hate and ignorance, but racism was the symptom.”

As Banjo lay on the floor while the police officer handcuffed him, other dancers crowded around with smartphones as if to film and take photos of the incident.

The narration continued: “What we thought we knew, some clearly didn’t. Black Lives Matter.”

The group, who won the talent show in 2009, then all took a knee before the song Black Lives Matter by Dax began, which features the lyrics: “I can’t breathe,” the last words uttered by Floyd.

Afterwards Banjo referred to the performance as a “remix” of the Tomfoolery poem.

He had hinted at the performance ahead of time, writing on Instagram: “Tonight is a big night… The First live semi final on the panel of @bgt and the first TV performance of the year for @diversity-official all in one moment.

“We only had 5 days to prepare, but we put our heart and soul into this one. I hope people are ready – We’ve got something to say.

Roxanne Pallett’s CelebrityBig Brother ‘punchgate’ with Ryan Thomas is any number one of Ofcom complaints with 25,327 complaints and Loose Women’s interview with Kim Woodburn is third with 7,912 complaints.