Trisha Goddard has opened up about how much Leigh Francis’s offensive portrayal of her on Bo’ Selecta affected her and her kids.
The TV presenter revealed her children had been horrifically bullied after the sketch show Bo’ Selecta aired, where Leigh wore an oversized caricature-style mask to portray black celebrities.
She revealed the portrayal led to her children being bullied at school, telling Newsnight; ‘Let me just tell you, I’ve only just recently discovered how bullied my children were in Norfolk over the character.
‘It was the big lips, and all the things that every black child has been bullied about. I can laugh at myself, but it was the racial over the top with the big wide lips and the “rice and peas”. I couldn’t watch it.’
Trisha revealed what happened when she and Leigh Francis came face to face, admitting: ‘A couple of times I bumped into Leigh, I couldn’t even talk to him I felt so sick. And recently at an awards do, he knows I walked away from him.’
She added that Leigh had spoken to her daughter about the bullying and, as a father himself, was ‘absolutely horrified’ to hear what had been happening.
Following the Black Lives Matter Protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death, Leigh had taken to Instagram to apologise for his portrayal of black characters including Trisha, Craig David and Mel B on the show.
He’d said: ‘Back in 2002 I did a show called Bo’ Selecta! and portrayed many black people. I didn’t think anything about it, people didn’t say anything – I’m not going to blame it on other people.
‘I’ve been talking to some people and I didn’t realise how offensive it was back then and I just want to apologise.’
Bo’ Selecta has since been removed from Channel 4’s on-demand service All4, but Trisha says the show, which ran from 2002 until 2004, should never have been commissioned by the station.
She added: ‘For an entire corporation to say “yes that’s a good idea – let’s put it on and commission it”. We all make mistakes, but if you’re going to apologise, just the words aren’t enough.
‘While I was on air, a couple of times Special Branch had to teach my children not to open parcels sent to the house.
‘They were once scrambled to my daughter’s school. Not because of anything I said, just because of how I look.’
She revealed that Leigh’s apology had come out of the blue and it wasn’t something she had asked him to do.
‘After Leigh’s heartfelt apology, the racism, the remarks as a result, because it was seen as me forcing him to do it. I didn’t force him, I didn’t even ask him. I have gone through the most disgusting stuff.’
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