Racism

People don’t understand what racism is anymore.

Here’s an example: I hate Kanye West. “That’s a bit racist,” some idiots will say, or they may prefer “is it because he is black?” done in a ludicrous Ali G voice.

It isn’t racism. I hate Kanye West because he is a media-hungry, self-obsessed arsehole who married a famous-for-being-famous talent vacuum to further boost his celebrity profile and he makes music that I can’t stand, mostly by sampling other artists’ tracks. The fact that he is black doesn’t come into it.

You see, it’s ok to dislike people of a different race or nationality. It absolutely ISN’T ok if the different race or nationality is your reason for disliking them though.

This is lost on a lot of people.

Now we’ve got that UKIP Calypso song. I’ve not listened to it and I never intend to either.

I’m not going to debate whether or not UKIP is a racist party (it is) or whether its supporters are racists (they are too), but I’m going to point out more ludicrous reaction by people.

It’s comments on Twitter that got my goat. “Isn’t it racist to sing in a fake Jamaican accent?” asked many.

No, it’s not.

If someone put on a Jamaican accent to then use Caribbean racial slurs and list a load of national stereotypes it would be a different matter. But we’re talking about someone effectively doing an impression. Mike Read’s may well be a very bad impression, but that’s all it is.

Have David Beckham, George W Bush et al contacted the police and said that Jon Culshaw was committing a hate crime when he impersonated them on TV? Of course they haven’t.

An impression is an impression and it doesn’t change because someone is from a different country or has different coloured skin than you.

There was a situation on Mock The Week a few years ago too. Gina Yashere, a Nigerian, was on the panel and did her usual Nigeria jokes in a strong Nigerian accent. Nothing wrong with that. Her natural accent is more London, but her family are Nigerian. Nobody pulled her up on doing an “insensitive” impression, as well they shouldn’t.

Months later Micky Flanagan was on the programme. He didn’t say anything disparaging about Nigeria or Nigerians, but simply did a Nigerian accent when answering a question. “That’s a bit racist,” remarked another panellist. Micky responded with “no it’s not, it’s an impression”. It was actually quite a bad one, but that’s not the point. He was right.

Has anyone asked Nigerians or Jamaicans what they think? Probably not. Should we be outraged if a comedian in Kingston or Abuja does a Hugh Grant impression? Of course we shouldn’t, even though Hugh Grant is a total cock. Do you get the point now?

People being offended on somebody else’s behalf needs to stop and they need to be educated about what is actually right or wrong.