TOO FAR WITH THIS COMPLAINT… Why does Jimmy Savile have to be played by a man?
HE was once the nation’s favourite uncle, making dreams come true for nippers across the land.
But Jimmy Savile was also one of history’s most notorious perverts, with an insatiable lust for young girls and even DEAD BODIES.
Now the twisted story of Jimmy Savile is being told in a new BBC drama, The Reckoning, with anti- Press campaigner Steve Coogan taking the controversial lead role.
There’s a problem, though. Like Savile, Coogan is, in the words of one- time BBC chief Greg Dyke, “hideously white”.
And in these days of diversity, that does not sit well with the warriors of “woke”.
Campaigner Meadow Sugarsweet has launched an online petition demanding that Coogan be SACKED and replaced with an actor from an ethnic minority.
She tromboned: “How
many BAME ( Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic) actors have played Jimmy Savile in a dramatisation of his life? I’ll tell you – NONE!
“How many female actors have played Jimmy Savile in a dramatisation of his life? I’ll tell you – NONE!
“How many differentlyabled people have played marathon runner Jimmy Savile in a dramatisation of his life? I’ll tell you – NONE!
“It seems that the BBC, for all their talk of diversity and inclusivity, are completely ignoring the BAME community, the differently- abled community and women when it comes to portraying Jimmy Savile.
“Oh, and the gays and the trannies, too!
“I have launched a petition asking the BBC to make the character of Jimmy Savile better reflect the diversity of Britain in the 21st century.
“So far I have got 149 signatures, which I think reflects the anger in the country about this issue.”
Hot
For various reasons, better inclusion for ethnic minorities is a hot topic.
One of the world’s biggest investment firms is trying to triple the number of BAME staff in senior roles while cutting down on the hiring of white men.
State Street Global Advisors, which has 30 offices worldwide, including Canary Wharf in London, and employs 39,400 people, aims to triple the number of black, Asian and other minority staff in senior roles by 2023 as part of a drive to improve diversity within its middle and senior management.