Trisha Goddard has voiced how she was left shocked when she saw Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly in blackface on Saturday Night Takeaway.
The former 62-year-old talk show host couldn’t hide her surprise and sounded appalled when questioned on her thoughts after clips of the presenting duo re-emerged amid the Black Lives Matter movement.
As the movement continues to discuss issues surrounding race and racism, the clips of the pair dressed up as women in blackface have been brought to the light by fans.
Ant and Dec have apologised for the clips previously and issued a new apology when their sketch was brought up this week.
Ant and Dec appeared in blackface in 2003 on Saturday Night Takeaway (Image: ITV)
Speaking to MailOnline, Trisha revealed her shock when she saw the sketches from 2003 and couldn’t believe they did it at the time.
She said: “Ant and Dec, I remember when I first saw that and it wasn’t that long ago. I was like what?
“What are you? The fact that you’re doing this…”
Trisha continued: “Do you genuinely think you can trick people into believing – as it was for a You’ve Been Framed type thing – I thought how undiverse.”
She added to the publication: “All these programs need an executive producer, a commissioning editor; there are a whole load of people it needs to go through.
Trisha Goddard confessed she was left shocked when she saw the pair in blackface (Image: ITV)
“Nowhere along the line did someone go… because there was no one there to do that.”
In comparison, Trisha said shows like Ali G and Fawlty Towers, which had its Don’t Mention The War episode pulled from UKTV for using racial slurs, are not offensive.
She added: “What did Fawlty Towers have to do with anything? I’m sorry but there was no black face in Fawlty Towers. People keep saying to me on social media ‘well shouldn’t Ali G be pulled?
“Ali G was highlighting, at that time there were a lot of white people – if you want to put it in politically terms – misappropriating black culture and Ali G exposed a lot of racism by getting politicians to talk about weed and ‘Is it cos I’m black?’ he actually highlighted a lot racism.
“It’s very different to putting on a black face with big rubbery lips and a big nose. That’s very different from someone blacking up pretending…”
Ant and Dec have apologised for dressing up as people of colour on Saturday Night Takeaway (Image: ITV)
In the statement, Ant, and Dec, both 44, said: “During past episodes of Saturday Night Takeaway we impersonated people of colour in the undercover segment of the show.
“We realise this was wrong and want to say that we sincerely sorry to everyone that was offended.
“We purposely stopped doing this several years ago and certainly would not make these sketches today.
“We had already taken steps to ensure footage was taken down and have again recently confirmed with ITV that these segments, and any other historical content, that could cause offence, does not appear on either the ITV Hub or the Saturday Night Takeaway YouTube channel.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
