Brave Ashley Banjo smiles as he returns to BGT after Diversity backlash

Brave Ashley Banjo flashed a huge smile as he returned to the Britain’s Got Talent stage for the first time since the backlash over Diversity ‘s performance last weekend.

Ashley, 31, has been pictured back on set less than 24 hours after it was revealed complaints to Ofcom over the powerful show have soared to 15,500 yesterday.

The telly star got back to work for the next round of shows as he’s filling in for absent Simon Cowell alongside Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and David Walliams.

He was pictured walking back out onto the stage with a big smile on his face and chatting to the other judges.

His return to BGT airs on ITV tonight at 8pm.

Last weekend, Ashley joined the other members of Diversity to put on a poignant performance honouring the Black Lives Matter movement.

During the routine, dancers dressed in riot gear and a white member in a police officer’s uniform was seen kneeling on Ashley as he lay on the ground.

It was a moving moment referencing the death of George Floyd in the US, with the dancers all taking the knee in a show of solidarity.

However, Ofcom has been flooded with complaints over the performance, and the stars have been bombarded with abuse online.

Numbers have surged to 15,500, making it the second most complained about TV moment of the last decade, behind Roxanne Palette’s CelebrityBig Brother ‘punchgate’ row at 25,237.

After the complaints started to roll in, Ashley hit back at the haters, tweeting: “Art: The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.

“My truth, my platform, my art. I’ve always tried to create not only to entertain but also to inspire… That will never change.”

His brother Jordan later broke down on air as he spoke about the impact the barrage of complaints and abuse had on him this week.

Speaking on his KISS FM radio show, Jordan, 27, said: “Of course you get some critiques but normally it’s focused on the dance.

“But this one was different, it was really important, it was special to us. We are all about positivity and love and we got so much positivity and love back from this one.

“But we also got 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.”

Jordan’s voice began to crack and he was overwhelmed with emotion as he added: “I can’t speak for anyone else it’s sad, it’s sad, genuinely.

“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, I look at Pel [Perri] and I just.. it’s all positivity and love, let’s keep it moving.”