Ashley Banjo ‘stands by’ Diversity’s Black Lives Matter BGT performance after 15,000 complaints

Ashley Banjo has issued a statement following 15,000 complaints over Diversity's Black Lives Matter-themed Britain’s Got Talent performance.

The dance troupe performed the moving routine during last week’s pre-recorded semi-final and while their efforts immediately won huge praise from fans on social media, a number of viewers have since contacted Ofcom.

Banjo, 31, has now addressed the controversy in a 7-minute video posted on Instagram.

He tells fans: "It's been a crazy week and I've kind of been a bit quiet on social (media), I've been living life trying not to get caught up in it all.

"But I feel like now is the time to just come out and say a few things. Firstly, I just want to say thank you to all the people who supported what me and Diversity did with that performance. They've reached out, honestly it's overwhelming the positive reaction to what we did.”

Banjo, who is serving as a judge in this year’s BGT finals while Simon Cowell recovers from a broken back, added that the troupe have received “hundreds of thousands of messages, comments, DMs, and just interactions in the street.”

“I know that a lot of the press reports and the headlines have been about the complaints and the negativity, but trust me I'm right in the centre of it and the negativity is the minority,” he continues.

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