Romesh Ranganathan’s children have been subjected to racist abuse.
Romesh Ranganathan
The 42-year-old comic has three sons aged 11, nine, and six with wife Leesa, and he finds it “so upsetting” that they are targeted by bullies because they are mixed race.
He said: “The s*** people say to my kids.
“My eldest was talking to a girl and a kid said something like, ‘I don’t know why you’re bothering to talk to her because you’re part Sri Lankan so will marry your cousin.’ I find it so upsetting.”
After also being subjected to racist abuse as a child, Romesh hoped things would be different for his own family.
He said: “I thought it would be better for my kids. I find it deeply depressing. We went to the park and there was a black guy and this girl, who was nine or 10, repeatedly calling him the N-word. Leesa, the kids and I were walking and I said, ‘We need to stop.’ The guy was not in a good way.
“Then her dad came out and said, ‘What the f*** you been saying to my daughter?’ We were trying to mediate, but the black guy had flipped and had to be got away from that situation.
“But that girl has heard black people be talked about like that in her house and has gone and said it, and her dad’s had a go at the bloke…”
The ‘League of their Own’ star thinks there is an increasing problem with people being proud of their racist views.
Asked if he still believes it is “stupid” to claim Brexit caused more racism in the UK, as he previously argued, he told the Sunday Times Culture magazine: “My view has slightly changed.
“At the time, I felt like people who voted for Brexit were being demonised and as a result people were saying there’s so much racism now, blah blah blah.
“But I also feel people feel it’s OK to hold those views [now]. They’re not ashamed of it and that’s a problem.
“Culturally, we’re in a place where saying those things is more acceptable and I’ve seen it from kids I used to teach. I’m friends with them on Facebook and for a long time I’d assumed we’d progressed, that those attitudes were of the past.”