David Lammy has taken a break from talking about Brexit – to take a pop at Comic Relief.
In a strange turn of events, the Labour MP, investigative journalist Stacey Dooley, and Comic Relief have become embroiled in an online spat this morning. The row began when Lammy complained about a film Dooley was making with Comic Relief in Uganda, which Lammy suggested perpetuated stereotypes of Africa, arguing ‘The world does not need any more white saviours.’
Dooley duly responded that if Lammy was so worried about a white woman raising awareness, perhaps he could go over there instead.
https://twitter.com/StaceyDooley/status/1100825979981889536
A fair point you might think. It seemed Comic Relief agreed, releasing a statement shortly afterwards pointing out that they had in fact invited Lammy to appear on the show, but he had never responded.
Lammy then hit back at the charity itself, clarifying that Comic Relief had visited his office twice to discuss his participation, but
‘Comic Relief wanted me to be part of their PR machine and I’m not prepared to do that. What I said to Comic Relief, was “lets wait and see what this year’s Comic Relief is like.”‘
On the ITV’s breakfast show, This Morning, Lammy then suggested that the charity’s promotional videos are ‘precisely what keeps Africa poor.’ Which is a somewhat strange thing to say to a charity which raises money for the, err, poor.
Then again, it’s just another day in the strange world of politics now.
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