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‘When he put on blackface it was racist’: Craig David calls Leigh Francis a ‘bully’ and says Bo ‘Selecta! impression sent him to a ‘really dark place’
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Craig David has Bo’ Selecta! as “bullying” and called the impressions of the show’s star, Leigh Francis, “racist.”
Bo’ Selecta! came out in 2002 and ran on TV until 2009 and saw comedian Leigh make deliberately ridiculous impressions to fool celebrities.
Craig was the subject of many sketches alongside Mel B, David Beckham and host Trisha Goddard.
Calling him out: Craig David slammed Bo’ Selecta! as ‘bullying’ and called impressions of the show’s star, Leigh Francis, ‘racist’
Now, the 41-year-old singer has criticized Leigh for the images, saying they had a huge negative impact on him.
Speak with The timesCraig said: “It felt like a vendetta and when it took off, it became something that touched me. People were yelling at me in the street and I felt the same feeling I had when I was bullied at school. Leigh Francis normalized bullying by making it comical.”
On the show, Leigh wore rubber masks with celebrity faces, with Craig saying, “When he put on blackface, it was racist.”
Leigh apologized for the sketches in 2020, tearfully admitting that he “didn’t realize how insulting it was then.”
Caricatures: Bo’ Selecta! came out in 2002 and ran on TV until 2009 and saw comedian Leigh make deliberately ridiculous impressions to fool celebrities
He said he was “deeply sorry for the upset” he caused for using blackface to dress up as celebrities.
In light of the awareness being raised regarding the Black Lives Matters movement, Leigh tearfully admitted it made him think.
He captioned the post: “I want to apologize to everyone who was offended by Bo’selecta. I am on a constant journey of knowledge and just wanted to say I am very sorry. #black lives matter.’
In the video, the Celebrity Juice host said, “My name is Leigh Francis. I play a character named Keith Lemon on television.
Offensive: Craig was the subject of many sketches alongside Mel B, David Beckham and host Trisha Goddard (Leigh portrayed as Craig in the show)
“It’s been some weird days, I’ve been sitting and thinking about things and what I could post to help things.
‘In 2002 I did a show called Bo’ Selecta, I portrayed a lot of black people. At the time I didn’t think about it, people didn’t say anything – I’m not going to blame other people.
“I’ve talked to a few people. I didn’t realize then how insulting it was.
“I just want to apologise, I just want to say sorry for the confusion I caused, whether I was Michael Jackson, Craig David, Trisha Goddard, all people I’m a huge fan of. I think we are all on a learning journey.”
But Craig said he felt the apology was insincere and doubted the comedian had learned anything from the resistance.
He said, ‘We can all apologize if we’re behind. The moment of making his apology seemed timed quite coincidentally. Did he contact any of the people he did on his show? He has not approached me. Has he gone to communities to talk about bullying? Racism? And be educated? You can only ask him.
“All I’ve seen since his apology is people still tweeting him thinking Bo ‘Selecta!’ is nice and the tone of his response is very quiet “I’m the funny guy here”. That he still plays it as a joke after his apology tells me everything.”
He added that the 1990s show caricature had affected his mental health and placed him in a “really dark place.”
Craig went on to say that he didn’t want to take anything from Leigh, but that he wanted to hold him accountable for the show and its effects.
Apologies: Trisha Goddard has since revealed that she has accepted a tearful apology from Francis after his racist portrayal of her on his show Bo’ Selecta! (shown)