A MAN campaigning to save his local swimming pool says the BBC refused to interview him because he was wearing a golly doll.

Barton resident Chaka Artwell claimed a reporter told him the soft toy he was wearing around his neck would “distract” BBC news viewers and could be offensive.

He said he travelled from Walsall back to Oxford on Friday to do the interview with Tom Turrell about the Save Temple Cowley Pools campaign.

Mr Artwell, who organised talks and debates to mark Black History Month in Oxford in October said: “Tom asked me to remove my friend and I said ‘why?’ “He told me it would distract from my story and I said I didn’t think it would because I am a passionate speaker.

“He said he would not do the interview unless I removed my dear friend, and I am really upset about it.”

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BBC spokeswoman Meera Hindocha said: “We asked him to remove the large doll because it would distract viewers in a discussion about a local swimming pool and some viewers may have found it offensive.

“When he refused to do so we used another contributor.”

The character first appeared in children’s books by Florence Upton in the late 19th century and later became a cuddly toy.

It was adopted by jam company Robertson’s as its symbol and continued to be used until the Greater London Council banned Robertson’s products from its jurisdiction in 1983 over growing controversy that the doll was a racist symbol. The company dropped the character from television adverts in 1988.

But Mr Artwell said “white, middle-class liberal types” had decided his doll was racist and offensive.

He said: “When I was growing up in this country, this guy was a popular figure.

“Then, without anyone asking me if I was offended by it, people decided I was offended by it.

“White, middle-class liberal types decided I was offended by this guy, and in the year 2015 I don’t want people telling me what I should be offended by.

“People pick and chose what they want to highlight, this is ridiculous.”

He said he had done interviews before with Mr Turrell and they had been “great”.

But Nigerian-born Oxford City Councillor Ben Lloyd-Shogbesan said he “did not have a clue” where Mr Artwell was coming from.

He said: “Personally I find this image offensive because I think it demeans the image of black people.

“I think he was trying to make a point, but on the wrong basis and I think it shows a lack of sensitivity to people who don’t like that image.

“I would have said to him ‘you might not find it offensive, but a lot of people do – so maybe find another medium to have that conversation?’.”



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