A young Irishwoman was told she “looks like a monkey” while working as a news presenter for RTE.
Zainab Boladale, 23, from Ennis Co Clare, who speaks fluent Irish, revealed she received a string of racist comments on a YouTube channel which impacted her mental health.
Ms Boladale and her family moved from Nigeria when she was four years old and is the first Nigerian woman to have worked in the RTE newsroom on the children’s weekday news2day show.
She said: “For months and months, a YouTube channel constantly compiled videos of me from my account, social, and TV.
“This very summer I had belittling comments said to my face while out on a report which took a huge toll on my mental health.
“Talking about racism when you’re a POC [person of colour] is tiring because the experience feels overwhelming.”
The DCU journalism graduate posted a number of racist comments she received on Twitter.
One user called Ms Boladale a “n***er” while another called her “as monkey, ape, gorilla.”
One man said: “Consider yourself Irish all you want but you are Nigerian.
“In the same way that all those Africans that were born here are not Irish either but are African.”
Another faceless account told the young journalist to “get the f**k out of Celtic lands.”
Ms Boladale co-presented the RTE children’s news show for two years before finishing at the broadcaster earlier this year.
She is also a co-creator of Beyond Representation which is a platform that champions women of colour who are breaking new ground in Irish media, arts and business.
The YouTube channel which gathered numerous of her reports has now been deactivated after complaints.
Ms Boladale said: “YouTube finally took it down (I’m guessing others featured on that channel complained too.)
“When I used to write articles they’d post it on racist forums.
“I’ve been asked a lot and I refuse to talk about what is racist and what isn’t because guess what?
“If a marginalized group of people feel hurt by an act/statement you already have your answer.”
Support has poured in for Ms Boladale since she posted about her horrific experiences.
Petula Martyn, an RTE journalist, said she hoped her workplace provided support to Ms Boladale while dealing with the abuse.
She said on Twitter: “Zainab, you shouldn’t have had to put up with this disgusting behaviour.
“I hope you got support from RTE to deal with it.”
While RTE’s legal affairs correspondent Orla O’Donnell called the racism “shameful” and “shocking.”
