Ashley Banjo shaved his hair to be accepted on television.
Ashley Banjo
The 32-year-old dancer has revealed he decided to shave off his cornrow braids because he wanted to fit in with other television presenters on the small screen.
He told GQ Hype: “I knew that there was a version of me that wouldn't be as accepted and a version of me that would. It can be anything from the way that you portray your art, the music you chose, the clothes you wear, the way you speak, the way that you walk into a building, the friends you take.
"I even remember at one point I had cornrows, braids. And that was authentically me. But I remember thinking, 'There's no one else on TV with plaits like me. Can I see myself hosting prime-time BBC One like this? Maybe not.' I remember thinking, 'I'm on the up, let me shave [them] off.’”
It comes after the Diversity star revealed he was terrified to leave his own home following his Black Lives Matter-inspired performance on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ last month.
He explained: "There were points when I was genuinely worried, you know. Points when I would think to myself, ‘Will it be safe to go here or go there?’ Even now, you know, sometimes I’ll look and go, ‘That could be a group of people that really disagrees with me’; you don’t know how they’re going to [react] when you put your neck out on the line for what you believe in.”
The dance troupe’s routine included a white performer kneeling on Ashley's neck, a reference to George Floyd's death in police custody, and dancers dressed as riot police.