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BRITAIN’S Got Talent has been the subject of 10,267 complaints from irate viewers about Diversity’s Black Lives Matter routine.
The number of complaints has skyrocketed during the week after Ashley Banjo led the dance group for the raw performance of the Saturday night episode.
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The performance, which saw Jordan’s brother Ashley lying on the ground with a white police officer kneeling over him, referenced George Floyd’s death in America.
There were also backup dancers dressed in riot gear and the group knelt during the performance.
Diversity’s powerful performance is now the second-most-reported television moment in a decade.
The first is Roxanne Pallett’s Celebrity Big Brother drama ‘punchgate’ with former Corrie star Ryan Thomas with 25,327 complaints and Kim Woodburn’s interview on Loose Women comes in third with 7,912 complaints.
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Ashley revealed earlier this week that she had received a barrage of abuse for acting.
But the show’s alternate judge thanked his critics for showing it was a necessary performance.
On Twitter, he wrote: “There is much to say … But I will let the performance speak. Thousands of messages of love and support – Thank you.
“For the thousands of messages of hate and ignorance, thank you. You highlight exactly what needs to change. You send them nothing but love.”
Some BGT viewers said that the “powerful” performance had moved them to tears, while others insisted that a “political statement” had no place on the talent show.
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One wrote: “Powerful, moving and exhilarating. What everyone did was EXCEPTIONAL. “
Another tweeted: “Incredibly powerful performance! Made me cry. You are the best !!! “
A third posted: “Keep doing the right thing. This piece was SO powerful. “
Diversity performed their signature spectacular spinning dance moves in front of backup dancers dressed as riot police with shields.
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Ashley’s brother Jordan struggled to hold back tears yesterday over the “horrible” complaints, and on his Kiss Radio show he said it was “really sad.”
Jordan, 27, said: “Of course you get some criticism, but it usually focuses on dancing.
“But this one was different, it was really important, it was special for us.
“We are all positivity and love and we got so much positivity and love from it.
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“But we were also bombarded with messages and articles about horrible things about us, about our families, about how even now the diversity is not diverse enough because there are only five white people in it.”
Excited, he added: “I can’t speak for anyone else, it’s sad, it’s really sad.”
Meanwhile, Perri responded to a critic by telling them to “take it away.”
Ashley, who was a judge over the weekend in place of the injured Simon Cowell, opened the performance by reciting a viral poem The Great Realization by singer Tomfoolery, which deals with the BLM movement and police brutality.
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The performance also addressed the coronavirus, capitalism, and the growth of delivery services like Amazon.
It was rated “powerful” by host Dec Donnelly moments after its completion.
After the performance, Ashley said, “This performance is very special to me and the rest of Diversity.
“2020 has been an incredible moment in history for both positive and negative reasons.
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“We wanted to use the platform they gave us to make our voices heard, express how the events of this year have made us feel and think about how we might look at them in the future … We call it retrospective 2020.”
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