Signifcant amount less was raised with white saviour row blamed
Red Nose Day has plummeted by £8m on last year’s total amid controversy over “white saviours.”
The BBC announced it had raised £63m so far from the annual fundraiser compared with £71.3m last year - the lowest sum since 2007 and some way below the record £108m total achieved in 2011.
This year’s telethon also saw a dip in ratings, with an average of 5.6 million people tuning in - 600,000 fewer viewers than in 2017.
It comes after a well-publicised spat involving Labour MP David Lammy who criticised celebrity supporter Stacey Dooley for promoting a “white saviour” complex.
Dooley, the winner of Strictly Come Dancing, caused controversy after she posted a picture of herself posing with a young African child while making a Comic Relief documentary in Uganda.
Lammy reacted by posting the comment: “The world does not need any more white saviours.”
Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, tweeted: “I notice David Lammy wisely keeping quiet while the UK celebrates Comic Relief #rednoseday raising millions.” But many said they had not donated because they did not want to be accused of being a “white saviour.”
Comic Relief was shaken by the criticism leading to a dumbed-down Dani Dyer film about female genital mutilation, fearing she would be accused for being a white westerner interfering with another culture’s issues.
Dyer, 22, was filmed visiting a project in Sierra Leone and urged viewers to give £10 or £20, saying: “That is girl power. I love that. I need a little bit of this group at home.”
Nimco Ali, a campaigner who helped outlaw the practice in Britain, warned Emma Freud, director of Red Nose Day, that the film could backfire.
