Ashley Banjo thanked the thousands of people who complained about Diversity's Black Lives Matter routine as he picked up the Must-See Moment prize at the BAFTA Television Awards.
Jordan and Ashley Banjo
The dancer and television personality looked emotional as he and his brother Jordan Banjo stepped onto the stage to accept the gong on Sunday night (06.06.21) for their 'Britain's Got Talent' routine, after over 24,000 people lodged a complaint with broadcasting regulator Ofcom.
Accepting the award, he said: "This is so much more than just an award. I just want to say first, thank you to everyone who voted for us, it means so much. Thank you to everyone who stood by us. Every phone call, text, comment. You guys made a difference to what was a really dark time, being in a storm of 30,000 complaints - just a torrent of racially charged abuse, threats, all of it. It was a dark time but that support made a difference.
"And in a way I have to say thank you to the people that complained, to the people who put that abuse out there because you showed the truth, you showed exactly why this performance and this moment was necessary. But for all of those people, take a look."And in his passionate speech, Ashley urged people to continue having "difficult conversations".
He added: "This, as much as there are so many conversations and so much that needs to change, this is what change looks like and I am so proud to be standing here, so thankful to all of those people. And for me, this is about not representing the minority, it felt like we weren't at the time. But standing here right now, this represents the majority so thank you all so so much. Let's keep having those difficult conversations, let's keep standing up for what's right regardless of the colour of our skin and we will achieve that equality."
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