Ashley Banjo reveals shocking extent of abuse following controversial Diversity BLM dance

Ashley Banjo has revealed the shocking extent of abuse he received in the wake of Diversity’s controversial Black Lives Matter routine, more than year on from when it aired on Britain’s Got Talent.

Speaking in a new interview, the famous choreographer, 33, admitted the bitter backlash ‘consumed his every waking moment at one point’ and that people threatened to ‘kick his head in’ on social media.

Asked in a new interview with the Radio Times whether or not he’d received threats, Ashley replied: ‘Yep. People saying I’d get my head kicked in. Then other people chiming in saying they ”can’t wait to see it”.’

The doting father also shared that people took photos of Diversity’s dance studio and posted them alongside concerning messages.

‘People took photos of our studio and said: ”there are a few of us who don’t want you training here any more so hopefully we don’t bump into you,”’ he shared.

Ashley noted that he didn’t reach out to police, but did keep a log of trolls’ messages, adding: ‘Luckily the threats didn’t come to anything.’

Ofcom received more than 31,000 complaints from viewers after the dance troupe’s political performance in September 2020, choreographed after the tragic death of George Floyd.

The group won the BAFTA Must See Moment for their performance – despite it being the second most complained-about TV moment for a decade after they narrated Floyd’s murder at the hands of police officer Derek Chauvin.

Last month, Ashley spoke candidly about the backlash on This Morning, admitting: ‘There was a moment where I hadn’t left the house for weeks. When I went out for the first time I was looking at people thinking – ”what do they think?”

‘At one point, I was getting tweeted 100 tweets a minute. It was 60 per cent negative. We’re talking of thousands of messages. Where are these people in the tangible physical world? In the street, all I got was life.’

Elsewhere in his new interview, Ashley reflected on his childhood, recalling the  racist abuse he and his siblings were subjected to at the private school they attended, which his parents managed to pay for by ‘sacrificing everything’.

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Ashley revealed: ‘One time kids climbed over a fence and threw sticks at my sister. They made monkey noises and called us black P***s.’ Ashley added: ‘They couldn’t even get their racism right.’

He also spoke about his new documentary, Britain In Black And White, which aired in October.

The star has previously revealed that the backlash received in the wake of Diversity’s Black Lives Matter dance made him want to delve further into British history and address the racism he has experienced in his life as well as others around him.

‘I didn’t want to point fingers,’ Ashley explained last month on This Morning.

‘I wanted to learn and sit back and say ”was I wrong?” I knew I wasn’t in my heart but I wanted to learn the history, the present, and where we might go.’

‘I’ve just tried to understand the reaction a bit more.

‘The starting point was the routine. What actually happened? Then I went backwards and tried to speak about the history and who fought in the past for equality.

‘I spoke to people that agreed with me and then actively disagreed with me and complained. I wanted to hear both sides. They don’t hold back.

‘The complaints are all different. A lot of people assume I say ‘if you complained you’re a racist’.

‘But nowadays some of it’s covert, unconscious, institutionalised. Whether it be demonising police, not being factual, there have been a lot of different reasons to say we shouldn’t have performed. But the fact we’re talking about it, that’s why we should have performed.’

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