Jim Davidson storms off amid tense interview with Ashley Banjo 

Jim Davidson stormed off during a tense discussion on race with Ashley Banjo last night as the dancer held him accountable for his ‘disgusting’ comments about Diversity’s controversial Black Lives Matter routine.

In Ashley Banjo: Britain in Black and White, which aired on ITV yesterday, the Dancing On Ice judge, 33, revealed that Jim, 67, had agreed to have a ‘real, direct, honest’ conversation ‘after weeks of negotiation’.

The comedian sparked outrage last year following a YouTube rant in which he suggested dance troupe Diversity should do a routine about ‘black men mugging people’ after they performed their BLM dance on Britain’s Got Talent – which received more than 31,000 Ofcom complaints.

During the sit-down interview, Jim stormed out of the room, telling Ashley to ‘stick to the dancing, you’re brilliant’ and calling the discussion a ‘no-win’.

Viewers at home were quick to praise Ashley for how calmly he handled the situation, with one writing: ‘Wow. Ashley Banjo and Jim Davidson. Not many people would have a face-off with Jim Davidson. I admire Ashley for doing that.’ 

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Ofcom received more than 31,000 complaints from viewers about Diversity’s performance, choreographed after the tragic death of George Floyd. 

Yet the group also won the BAFTA Must See Moment for their routine – 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.

Jim was one of vocal critics and labelled the performance ‘ridiculous’ and ‘indulgent’ in a video titled ‘Who Needs Diversity?’.

During their discussion, Ashley told the comedian: ‘As far as I’m concerned, that video you made about Diversity it was… it was racist in every way. Every single way.’ 

Jim replied: ‘If I was talking about you it would be personal rather than be racist,’ to which Ashley insisted: ‘It was both. It was personal and racist. I’m from this country, I love this country, I’m from a mixed-race background.’ 

The comedian insisted that race had nothing to do with his YouTube rant and said he didn’t think the performance was appropriate for a ‘late entertainment show’.

He claimed Diversity managed to ‘diffuse’ tensions around the issue with their routine.

‘You should know that I believe the outcome from that dance is more than your wildest dreams,’ he said.

‘People in this country who are frightened, old white people if you like, like me, are thinking there’s riots going on in Brixton, in south east London where I grew up, there’s stuff going on in America that’s very unsavoury, everyone’s frightened.

‘You diffused that. People are supporting you of all different races, I support Black Lives Matter, I don’t support Black Lives Matter the movement, I support the statement. You’ve won me over.’

In his expletive-laden rant on YouTube last September, Jim said: ‘You just want to be famous don’t you. You want to be all around the world. That’s why you do it, you don’t give a f*** about George [Floyd].’

He went on to say: ‘You don’t see white couples on adverts anymore, do you? Most TV presenters are non-white. The Golden Girls, you know that film The Golden Girls with all them old birds? That’s being made by black people.’

Jim continued: ‘There’s loads of white people sticking up for you, sticking up for Black Lives Matter. Young white girls walking around with banners. Defund the police, support Black People.

‘Well, I say most young girls, Gemma’s sister is not holding up a banner as she was violently mugged by three black men. Perhaps Diversity can do a mugging thing.’

Ashley pointed out to the comedian that it is wrong to mention a person’s ethnic identity when referring to their crime, which the dancer said Jim had done in his video. 

‘Why was his colour relevant?’ Ashley questioned, to which Jim told him he was ‘taking b******s’, adding: ‘Oh Jesus, this is f****** crazy’.

Growing flustered, Jim then accidentally referred to Ashley as ‘George’, stating: ‘I beg your pardon, it’s on my mind at the moment.’

He then decided to end the interview, removing his microphone and walking out of the room.

Ashley, who beforehand had described some of Jim’s comments about Diversity as ‘disgusting’, followed the comedian, saying: ‘Don’t walk out because I’m asking you the hard questions.’

The BGT star then told the camera: ‘I am disappointed because it was an opportunity for us to sit and really engage in a discussion. 

‘I’ve barely got into half the questions I wanted to ask him. In a way, maybe he did the right thing because it was only going to get harder for him.

‘I wanted to have a chat, a constructive, even if not palatable, chat about racism. And he’s telling me that I didn’t listen. I was listening, I just didn’t agree.’

Fans watching at home were full of praise for the presenter, with one writing: ‘Ashley Banjo has done an amazing job trying to hold Jim Davidson accountable.’

Another said: ‘Never before have I been more ashamed of liking a man I watched as a child on TV. I can’t even use his name. Ashley Banjo thank you for recording your programme, being so open with your interviews and really helping to educate us more.’

Jim, who has fronted shows such as Big Break and The Generation Game, has since hit out at the Diversity star, calling him ‘confrontational, out of his depth and arguing like a child’. 

He told the Express: ‘Ashley called anyone who disagreed with his BLM dance a “racist”. But it’s perfectly possible to not be a racist and disagree with slogans like “Defund the police”. 

He added: ‘Luckily I taped the interview too, so I will make my own documentary about the issue and play it on my JDTV channel on Ustream before ITV airs their show.’

MailOnline has contacted Jim Davidson’s representatives for comment. 

It comes after Ashley talked about how he didn’t leave the house for weeks in the midst of the backlash over his BLM dance routine.

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Appearing on This Morning on Tuesday, Ashley said: ‘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 love.’ 

But the outcry made the choreographer 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 said.  ‘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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