Sir Lenny Henry calls on BBC to do more to tackle racial diversity

‘There’s very few in the BBC newsroom that look like me’: Sir Lenny Henry calls on the corporation to do more to tackle racial diversity

  • Sir Lenny said when he looks at newsrooms there is ‘few that look like me’ 
  • ‘There’s Dave, Pete, Charlie, Terry – there are not many Raheems,’ he also said
  • The 63-year-old also had a dig at MasterChef moving to near his boyhood home 

Sir Lenny Henry has called on the BBC to do more on racial diversity – and singled out the corporation’s news operation for particular criticism. 

Speaking at a media event, he said: ‘When I look over into the newsroom, and all the people there that make the news, there’s very few that look like me.

‘And every film set you walk on to there’s Dave, Pete, Charlie, Terry – there are not many Raheems. That needs to change too.’

Sir Lenny Henry, pictured, has called on the BBC to do more on racial diversity – and singled out the corporation’s news operation for particular criticism

Sir Lenny, 63, also had a dig at MasterChef, which is moving its filming location to Birmingham, near his boyhood home of Dudley. Pictured: John Torode and Gregg Wallace presenting the BBC cooking show

Sir Lenny, 63, also had a dig at MasterChef, which is moving its filming location to Birmingham, near his boyhood home of Dudley. Pictured: John Torode and Gregg Wallace presenting the BBC cooking show 

Sir Lenny, 63, also had a dig at MasterChef, which is moving its filming location to Birmingham, near his boyhood home of Dudley. 

He told the Creative Cities Convention in the second city: ‘It’s great for us but tricky for MasterChef because it means they are going to have to stop voting all the black people off first… You must have seen it.’

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