Bless, they quickly tried to fix it by adding context. ? pic.twitter.com/f5VERdeRYQ
— Daniellé DASH (@DanielleDASH) October 31, 2016
The BBC, which boasts a 12.5 per cent black and minority ethnic (BME) workforce, just can’t seem to represent the millions of people in that ethnic category, even during Black History Month.
The tweet, reading ‘Black people and chicken – is there any truth in it?’, was posted by BBC Newsbeat as part of their ‘That Black British Feeling’ documentary series, but provoked huge backlash from people branding it ‘unbelievably racist’.
Intriguingly, the BBC thought it appropriate to ask white people whether there was any truth behind the stereotype, with three white people entering into a discussion on the generalised racial cliche, the Mirror reports.
Another of the documentaries asks the question ‘Is it ever OK for white people to use the n-word?’
In the video, one white woman says:
A lot of black girls that I know, they are always like, yeah, you know, I eat a lot of chicken because it makes your bum bigger.
I can’t think of a time when racial stereotypes have been introduced as a reasonable discussion point – with stereotype meaning ‘to believe unfairly that all people or things with a particular characteristic are the same’.
We asked if it's ever OK for white people to use the n-word? Here's the reply.. https://t.co/oKTy4HB8uK
— BBC Newsbeat (@BBCNewsbeat) October 31, 2016
A white man goes on to say:
Lots of black people I know love chicken. There is this correlation between it that, I don’t know, there’s a stereotype, but it’s true.
BBC NewsbeatA few black people featured in the BBC short, one saying he loved chicken, and a black woman clarified ‘It’s not the only food that we eat’.
Twitter was outraged…
so this was unbelievably racist. Why treat a racist stereotype like some kind of reasonable discussion point? What for?
— Tiss ?️? (@NaturallyTiss) October 31, 2016
First Zane Malik is an inspirational black person, then the x factor palava, now big bbc is saying black people love chicken. Happy #bhm
— JusticeForGrenfell (@shanalala_) October 31, 2016
BBC Newsbeat deleted. Asking why black people like chicken. In the year of our lord 2016. During Black History Month. BOI.
— Carl 64% Anka (@Ankaman616) October 31, 2016
The original tweet was deleted after it created a social media shit-storm, but the altered tweet only made the situation worse.
One user, Natalie Lawrence, likens the BBC’s question to ‘Do elephants really never forget?’:
"Do elephants really never forget? Why do pandas only eat bamboo? Do all black people really love chicken?" – how @BBCNewsbeat thinks
— Natalie Lawrence (@IamNLawrence) October 31, 2016
I want my licence fee to pay for @BBCNewsbeat to do a piece on if it's true white people love to eat pork. No? Then LEAVE US ALONE.
— Natalie Lawrence (@IamNLawrence) October 31, 2016
The truth is @BBCNewsbeat sees black people not as normal human beings but as curiosities, or as just animals to be observed on nature progs
— Natalie Lawrence (@IamNLawrence) October 31, 2016
A BBC spokesperson said:
These short films show young people from various backgrounds discussing their experiences of dealing with different stereotypes, which accompanies a wider documentary looking at racism in the UK.
Maybe it would have made more sense to assume, like all stereotypes, that they don’t represent all black people, and instead ask black people how such stereotypes affect their lives…just an idea BBC.
