Harry Enfield says it's unfair that he "would not be allowed" to lampoon a non-white Prime Minister.
Harry Enfield
The 59-year-old comedian argued that he has impersonated Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair and David Cameron in the past and believes he should be able to satirise any political leader, regardless of the colour of their skin.
Appearing on Radio 4 with Nick Robinson and comedian Ava Vidal to debate the use of blackface in comedy sketches, he said: "I've played Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, David Cameron - four Prime Ministers. Say if Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister. I would find it difficult that I would not be allowed to play him because of the colour of his skin."
Robinson replied: "It's an interesting point. If someone's Prime Minister, Harry's got a series, are we really saying he has to book a black or Asian or ethnic minority actor to join him to take the mickey out of the Prime Minister of the day?"
Vidal said: "I'm sure you can take the mickey out of the Prime Minister without blacking up, if there was a black Prime Minister."
Meanwhile, during the show, Harry used a racial slur to discuss offensive comedy routines from the 1930s.
He said: "Obviously, Al Jolson or GH Elliott who played the Chocolate Coloured C**n, in the thirties, they perpetuated the myth of the happy negro, who was very happy to sing under the crack of the whip. Obviously that's deeply offensive."
While Robinson explained that some people would find the term offensive and said that Enfield was using the slur in inverted commas, the comedian replied: "Well, that was his name on stage."
He also defended previously using blackface to portray Nelson Mandela in 'Ruddy Hell! It's Harry and Paul'.
Harry said: "At the time, there was a lot of things in the paper about drugs, so I made him a drug dealer, or a peddler of alcopops to children and things like that, which I thought was so wrong it was alright. I wouldn't do it now, but I don't think I regret it.
"The whole point to say how preposterous it was to have this stereotype by playing Nelson Mandela as that stereotype."
However, Vidal tried to educate Harry on how "dehumanising" the use of blackface can be.
She said: "You have to look at the origins of blackface. It was distorting black people's features, it was done for the entertainment of white people and it was done promoting negative stereotypes, and it normalises dehumanisation."
Harry and Ava were appearing on the show to discuss the removal of shows such as 'Little Britain' from streaming services due to their use of blackface.
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