Ashley Banjo has responded to racist abuse and threats by laughing it off.
The Diversity star, 31, shared a gorgeous photo of his family and Ashley joked it will probably ‘confuse’ racist trolls.
Sharing the snap in view of his 892,000 Instagram followers, he shared a photo posing with his children – Micah and Rose.
What did Ashley Banjo say?
He captioned the pic with: “There’s been a lot of negativity recently so I thought I’d lighten the mood with a picture of me completing some dad duties…
“One child is brown and one is white… That should confuse the racists. #diversity #family.”
Read more: BGT ratings ‘drop by 500,000 after Diversity’s performance’
Ashley is filling in for Simon Cowell as a judge on Britain’s Got Talent.
Simon was forced to pull out of the gig after breaking his back in three places following an accident on an electric bike.
But his troupe Diversity’s performance received considerable backlash.
Diversity’s BLM inspired performance sparked thousands of complaints
Their Black Lives Matters inspired interpretive dance has already received over 21,000 Ofcom complaints.
Since the backlash of complaints, Ashley says he’s been barraged with hateful and racist online abuse.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFHuGvfpk-y/
In a previous Instagram post, he shared shockingly racist tweets and messages he’d received.
He captioned the post with: “I didn’t want to even shed light on any of this directly.
Read more: Ant and Dec share touching tribute to Simon Cowell
“But here’s just a small selection from the past week. And please don’t worry about or feel sorry for me…
“Feel sorry for the people that endure this kind of abuse and have no voice or platform.
“Feel sorry for the people that have been singled out, abused and in some cases murdered because of the colour of their skin.
“The only saving grace is that this is the vast minority… But for all the people asking or wondering – yes it is very real and yes it does exist.”
Meanwhile, in a video shared to his Instagram, he added: “It’s been a lot, everything from racial abuse to threats, to just some really nasty stuff.
“I’m not going to give light to it, I’m not going to give it any more time than it deserves.”
Celebrities are rallying around Ashley and Diversity with their support
Many celebrities have rallied around Ashley and Diversity since their polarising performance.
Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and Piers Morgan have all pledged their support.
On Monday’s Good Morning Britain, Piers said he didn’t understand the backlash at all.
Piers said: “If you can’t handle that without feeling the need to never watch BGT again or to complain to Ofcom, there’s something wrong with you.
“You, you’re the problem. You’re part of the problem.
“By the way, if you don’t like me saying this, then don’t watch us either.”
Meanwhile, an ITV spokesman said: “Britain’s Got Talent has always been an inclusive show, which showcases diversity and supports strong storytelling in all forms and ITV stands behind the decision to broadcast Diversity’s performance on BGT.
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