Maya Jama has defended taking the knee saying the Black Lives Matter movement needs to be ‘put in people’s faces’ on prime time TV – following backlash to Diversity’s Britain’s Got Talent routine, as well as a recent scene from the Vicar Of Dibley.
The screen star said ‘uncomfortable conversations’ need to be had about racism and injustice despite controversies including Diversity’s dance routine on BGT, where a man portraying a white police officer was shown with a knee on Ashley Banjo’s neck.
Complaints have also been levelled at the BBC’s Vicar of Dibley over an episode showing Dawn French’s character Geraldine taking a knee in solidarity with the movement.
Maya, 26, is due to co-host the MOBO Awards after a year when BLM has swept both sides of the Atlantic following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in the US.
Diversity’s performance is thought to be the main reason behind nearly 25,000 complaints to Ofcom over the ITV1 show in September.
Maya told Metro.co.uk: ‘I saw the reaction after the Diversity performance and I stand with them.
‘It was a powerful performance and I think it’s necessary to show it on TV.
‘I didn’t really understand the outrage, it’s raising the awareness of the right things, it’s not trying to offend anyone.
‘There was always an up and down where if you said Black Lives Matter people thought other lives didn’t and that was never the case.
‘To me it’s always been straightforward, I can’t see why people are confused by the meaning of it.
‘It’s to show black people have been neglected and hurt and killed without people taking accountability or going to jail for it.
‘Times need to change and the only way to do that is to put things in people’s faces and have the uncomfortable conversations.
‘We need to put things like that on prime time TV to open people’s eyes a bit instead of pretending there’s nothing going on.’
The broadcaster, actress and model has donated 70% of profits from her Cling Cling merchandise to the movement.
On Twitter, she said the money would go towards the ‘ongoing fight to end state-sanctioned violence’.
Despite the mixed audience reactions to BLM, the former BBC Radio 1 presenter wants the 23rd year of the MOBOs to be a celebration of black culture in a seismic year for many rap, grime and drill artists.
She will go in front of a virtual audience with co-host Chunkz as the show resumes after a two-year break, with performers this year including rappers Headie One, M Huncho, Ms Banks, Loski and Kojey Radical.
Jama said: ‘It’s even more important for the MOBOs to come back this year, especially because it’s been such a tough year for black people and black culture and it’s nice to have the MOBOs to celebrate the positives and achievements for once.
‘We will obviously address parts of what’s been going on in the year but the main point of the night is for the MOBOs to continue championing black culture, which it has done for a long time as probably the only awards show to ride for black culture for the longest time.
‘Now black music is in the best place it’s ever been in the UK so it feels like the right time to celebrate this and try and uplift and look at all the good bits to round off such a strange year.’
The MOBOs will be live-streamed tonight on YouTube at 7pm and broadcast on BBC One at 10.45pm.
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