Entertainment
Ashley Banjo received 100 abusive tweets a minute over Britain’s Got Talent BLM performance
Ashley Banjo was subjected to a whopping 100 abusive online comments a minute following his Black Lives Matter performance on Britain’s Got Talent last year.
The former BGT contestant, 32, who won the 2009 series as part of his dance group Diversity, received 31,000 Ofcom complaints for his September dance routine which honoured the Black Lives Matter movement and referenced the death of George Floyd at the hands of US police.
The star was advised against the powerful performance by his own family but felt he had to do it as he could pass on an important message to a large audience.
He told The Sunday Times: ‘We had millions of eyes on us. I wanted to portray what was going on in the world. Afterwards, I got around one hundred abusive tweets in a minute.
‘We learnt that it’s OK to tell stories about climate change or the NHS, but not racism.’
Ashley added that some people that were close to him are still not talking to him and he still receives cruel comments today.
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His brother Jordan, 28, who is a member of Diversity, also experienced trouble due to the routine when his children were the subject of death threats after it aired.
Jordan also had cement thrown over his expensive Aston Martin car.
He told The British Entrepreneur podcast: ‘When I’m sat at home and you’re telling me really horrible stuff like “your kids are so ugly, they should die”, “I hope your kids get caught in a house fire”.
‘It’s crazy stuff, mad – especially since last year when we did that performance on BGT. From then, it was like a red rag to a bull.’
Ashley previously opened up about how the routine affected his family and friends, with some of them questioning the idea.
He told the Daily Star: ‘Even among my own family and friends the performance spared conversation.
‘People didn’t directly disagree with the performance but there was a conversation about if it was really necessary.
‘I saw it happen in my own household.’
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