Britain's Got Talent's Ashley Banjo defiantly walks out to I'm Still Standing after BLM dance gets 15,000 complaints

September 12, 2020

ASHLEY Banjo defiantly strode onto the Britain's Got Talent stage tonight to Elton John's I'm Still Standing after Diversity's BLM routine racked up more than 15,000 complaints.

The choreographer smiled as he returned to the studio a week after the controversial dance.

He looked confident and raring to go as he walked out in a black and white T-shirt under a suit.

Prior to taking to the stage, hosts Ant and Dec called him "the greatest dancer" in the show's history and said he was their favourite thing about the semi-finals.

No reference was made to last weekend's routine which was heavily-inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and police brutality in the United States.

The powerful routine, which featured an officer kneeling on Ashley's neck to mirror the tragic death of George Floyd, divided viewers.

Some criticised it for politicising the prime time entertainment show while others said the message it conveyed needed to be shared.

There were also backing dancers performing dressed in riot gear and the group took the knee during the performance.

The performance is now the second most complained about TV moment in a decade.

The first is Roxanne Pallett’s Celebrity Big Brother ‘punchgate’ drama with former Corrie star Ryan Thomas with 25,327 complaints and Kim Woodburn’s interview on Loose Women comes third with 7,912 complaints.

Ashley revealed earlier this week that he had received a barrage of abuse over the performance.

But the show's stand-in judge thanked his critics for proving that it was a necessary performance.

Taking to Twitter, he wrote: "So much to say… But I’ll Just let the performance talk. Thousands of messages of Love and support – Thank you.

"For the thousands of messages of hate and ignorance – Thank you. You highlight exactly what needs to change. Sending nothing but love to you all."

Some BGT viewers said the "powerful" performance had moved them to tears while others insisted a "political statement” had no place on the talent show.

Diversity performed their spectacular trademark spinning dance moves in front of backing dancers dressed as riot police with shields.

Ashley’s brother Jordan fought back tears yesterday over the “horrible” complaints, speaking on his Kiss Radio show he said it was “genuinely sad”.

Jordan, 27, said: "Of course you get some critiques but normally it's focused on the dance.

"But this one was different, it was really important, it was special to us.

"We are all about positivity and love and we got so much positivity and love back from this one.

"But we also got bombarded with messages and articles of horrible stuff about us, about our families, about how even now Diversity not diverse enough because there's only five white people in it."

Getting emotional, he added added: "I can't speak for anyone else it's sad, it's sad, genuinely."

Meanwhile, Perri hit back at one critic telling them to "get in the bin".