Amanda Holden is "very proud" of Diversity’s Black Lives Matter dance.
The ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ judge was thrilled to see that ITV and her fellow judges – Alesha Dixon and David Walliams – stood by Ashley Banjo and his team of dancers after the dance performance racked up more than 23,000 complaints.
She said: "I’m glad Ashley’s there. He has been a wonderful person to have on the show, and the way he has dealt with the controversy around their performance has been amazing. I’m very proud that we did that as a show and stood by it."
Amanda was one of the first people to see the performance and she knew straight away that it would make an "impact" on the wider public.
She added: "I was proud to be one of the first people to see it. I knew it was going to make an impact and I loved the fact it celebrated the entire year and that kind of sense of community. It was one of the big positive things that came out of lockdown. We finally got to know our neighbours, we clapped the NHS, we came together with a real community spirit, so I was very saddened and quite disappointed to see the complaints and so much focus on that. To say that we’ve been overwhelmed with positivity would be an understatement."
Amanda was disappointed with people’s "absurd" reaction to the dance.
She told The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column: "I hated the fact we were only concentrating on the negativity. But he dealt with it brilliantly. We all stood hand in hand around him and I particularly enjoyed it when ITV put their ad out in support. It’s a changing world but I’ve spoken to Alesha especially, at great length, and she said it’s not just about putting faces on TV.
"It’s about changing things behind the scenes. So these people really need to think about what they’re doing now, because this is a fantastic opportunity to educate us and make this conversation continue happening … The reaction was absurd. And I think Ashley has been reaffirmed by the public love of him and by ITV and by all of us, just by standing side by side."