BGT Ofcom complaints soar to 21,673 as viewers promise to ‘boycott’ the show

The number of Ofcom complaints regarding Diversity’s Black Lives Matter inspired routine on Britain’s Got Talent has now reached 21,673.

On Friday, it was reported that 15,000 viewers had contacted the regulator about the semi-final amid accusations the ITV talent show had become ‘too political.’

Diversity’s provocative performance included a scene where a white police officer knelt on the neck of Ashley Banjo in reference to the death of George Floyd in America and the BLM protests that followed.

The dance was set to spoken word poem The Great Realisation by Tomfoolery and choreographed by Banjo to incorporate some of the biggest news events of the year.

The number polarised viewers and is now the second most complained about TV moment of the decade, behind Roxanne Pallett’s ‘punchgate’ scandal of 2018.

The former Emmerdale actress sparked a huge backlash on CelebrityBig Brother when she accused her housemate Ryan Thomas of deliberately striking her – leading to 25,327 complaints.

Despite a rising number of viewers contacting Ofcom last week, the Britain’s Got Talent’s controversy was not addressed by any of the stars during the latest semi-final on Saturday night.

However, Ashley Banjo appeared to give a message to the haters as he walked on set to Elton John’s I’m Still Standing.

It was later reported that the ITV talent show saw ratings drop by 350,000 with viewers threatening to boycott.

This morning, Ashley’sco-judge Amanda Holden was asked to give her take on the complaints during an appearance on Good Morning Britain.

“It is extraordinary,” said Amanda, expressing her shock at the reaction.

“I think the number of negative complaints means this conversation is right and fundamental.

“What hasn’t been really highlighted is we have been inundated with overwhelming positive responses, hundreds of thousands of them.

“As the BGT family, and Diversity are very much a part of that, Ashley is doing a phenomenal job as a judge, and we stand by him and stand by that performance 100 percent.”

Alesha Dixon also made her feelings clear as she responded to a post Ashley Banjo shared about the trolling he has received.

“[They] can kiss my black a**!” fired Alesha.

Ashley return to Instagram earlier today to share some shocking and vile message he has received on social media.

“No I don’t mean ‘criticism’… I mean ‘Racism’. I mean hate… I mean the very thing that makes every single second of that performance and every single complaint worth it.

“I didn’t want to even shed light on any of this directly. But here’s just a small selection from the past week. And please don’t worry about or feel sorry for me… Feel sorry for the people that endure this kind of abuse and have no voice or platform. Feel sorry for the people that have been singled out, abused and in some cases murdered because of the colour of their skin. The only saving grace is that this is the vast minority… But for all the people asking or wondering – yes it is very real and yes it does exist.”