Diversity's Black Lives Matter inspired dance routine on Britain's Got Talent is close to surpassing the most complained about TV moment of the decade, latest Ofcom figures have revealed.
A representative for the regulator revealed to the Mirror that they have received 23,308 complaints about the semi-final, which aired Saturday 5 September on ITV, with an episode of Celebrity Big Brother holding the record.
"We are assessing these complaints against our broadcasting rules, before deciding whether or not to investigate," added the spokesperson.
During the episode, stand-in judge Ashley Banjo and his dance troupe narrated a number of high profile news events from the last year including the killing of unarmed black man George Floyd in America in May.
In one scene a white police officer was seen kneeling on Banjo's neck while his Diversity members mimicked filming the incident on mobile phones.
The number of Ofom complaints recorded is close to overtaking the 25,237 complaints raised over Roxanne Pallett's 'punch-gate' scandal on Celebrity Big Brother in 2018.
Viewers were left outraged when former Emmerdale actress Roxanne wrongly accused Ryan Thomas of deliberately striking her.
With complaints still rolling in for BGT, Ashley Banjo has spoken out to fiercely defend his routine in the face of shocking 'racial abuse and threats' from online trolls.
In a statement, he said: 'It's been a lot, everything from racial abuse to threats, to just some really nasty stuff. I'm not going to give light to it, I'm not going to give it any more time than it deserves.
"But a lot of the negativity, the nastiness, and the racism shows exactly why these performances and exactly why this conversation that has arisen is so necessary. Racism is very real, I've known it before and I definitely know it now."
Ashley also said the complaints were nothing compared to the huge outpouring of support he has received from fans.
"Honestly it's overwhelming the positive reaction to what we did. Hundreds of thousands of messages, comments, DMs and interactions in the street.
"There's been what 15-16,000 complaints of negativity thrown back at the performance, but trust me I'm right in the centre of it and the negativity is in the minority.
"The positive response has been huge so thank you so much everyone who has supported and shown love, stood by what we did."
Ashley then explained the routine and said he and his Diversity bandmates were trying to give a 'summary of 2020'.
As well as the death of George Floyd, they also choreographed scenes reflecting the Covid-19 outbreak, lockdown living and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Ashley said he knew the routine was 'layered' but the aim was to 'bring to the stage to bring hope but also not to shy away from difficult conversations and difficult issues that have arisen.'
The star then returned to Instagram last night to share a sweet picture with his children which he joked 'should confuse the racists.'
"There’s been a lot of negativity recently so I thought I’d lighten the mood with a picture of me completing some dad duties... One child is brown and one is white... That should confuse the racists #diversity #family " said Ashley.
Ashley's co-judges have also rushed to support him over the reported backlash.
Appearing on Good Morning Britain, Amanda Holden urged viewers to watch the performance and hailed Ashley as 'amazing'.
"It is extraordinary. I think the number of negative complaints means this conversation is right and fundamental.
"What hasn't been really highlighted is we have been inundated with overwhelming positive responses, hundreds of thousands of them.
"As the BGT family, and Diversity are very much a part of that, Ashley is doing a phenomenal job as a judge, and we stand by him and stand by that performance 100 percent."
While Alesha Dixon told racist trolls: 'kiss my black a**' in a defiant social media post.
ITV also stood by the routine, with a BGT spokesperson telling the Mirror: "Diversity’s performance offered their take on the extraordinary events of 2020 opening up important topics of conversation. The show was complied for a family audience."
