Stacey Dooley’s Strictly Come Dancing partner has come to her defence after she was criticised for perpetuating a “white saviour complex” during her Comic Relief trip to Africa.
Kevin Clifton told Labour MP David Lammy he was “so wrong” for saying Ms Dooley was perpetuating “tired and unhelpful stereotypes” after she posted a photo from Uganda of her holding a child.
“Im sorry but @DavidLammy u r so wrong on this. What are your priorities?” he tweeted.
He added: “Some are in desperate need of help. If people are in a position to raise money and awareness why should they not just because they are white? You just can’t win for trying to help.”
Mr Lammy made the comments after Ms Dooley, an investigative journalist, shared pictures of her posing with a child during her trip for an upcoming documentary with Comic Relief.
He said the issue was not “personal” with Ms Dooley and that he does not question her “good motives”. But he added: "The world does not need any more white saviours.”
Ms Dooley hit back, saying in response to his tweet: “David, is the issue with me being white? (Genuine question).”
She added: “Because if that’s the case, you could always go over there and try raise awareness?
“Comic relief have raised over 1 billion pounds since they started. I saw projects that were saving lives with the money. Kids lives.”
On Thursday’s Victoria Derbyshire program, Mr Lammy said Comic Relief’s “formula” of sending mostly white celebrities to Africa was unhelpful and “had to stop.”
“The image is a perpetual image of people who are impoverished who need white celebrities who are largely uneducated about the context (in Africa).
“It keeps the continent of Africa poor. It keeps people in their place.”
This is not the first time Comic Relief has been accused of perpetuating the so-called white saviour trope.
In March last year the charity said celebrities would take a backseat on on-location appeals following complaints about "poverty tourism".
