Craig David Says Bo’ Selecta Was Racist And Sent Him To ‘A Really Dark Place’

Craig David has opened up about the devastating effect Bo’ Selecta! had on him, calling out its ‘racist’ impression of him by Leigh Francis.

In a new interview with The Times, the garage legend describes Francis’s comedy as “bullying” and says it had a big impact on his life:

“[Leigh] was highlighting characteristics he felt would trigger us personally. Every sketch felt personal.

It felt like a vendetta and when it got a following, it became something that affected me. People would shout at me on the street and I felt the same feeling I had when I was bullied at school. Leigh Francis had normalised bullying by making it comedy.”

When David first heard about the show, he sat down to watch it with his mum. He saw Leigh Francis wearing a big Craig David head and portraying him as an idiot with a colostomy bag (for some reason):

“It was bullying across the board for everyone. When he put blackface on, that was being racist.”

When Black Lives Matter took hold in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd, Francis apologised for the blackface and for ridiculing Craig David on Bo’ Selecta!. Craig’s not having it though:

“We can all apologise when on the back foot. The moment of expressing his apology seemed very coincidentally timed. Has he reached out to any of the people he did on his show? He hasn’t reached out to me. Has he gone to communities to talk about bullying? Racism? And to be educated? You can only ask him.

All I’ve seen since his apology is people still tweeting him thinking Bo’ Selecta! is fun and the tone of his response being very much still, ‘I’m the funny guy here’. That he still plays it like a joke after his apology tells me everything.”

Pretty lame that Leigh Francis hasn’t reached out to Craig David about it. How are you going to apologise for the show and not apologise to Craig David directly?

Craig David ended up in depression, and went out to Miami to focus on exercise and healthy living in a place where no one knows Bo’ Selecta!. However, he ended up suffering a severe back injury and had to stop working out. David says he was further forced to reflect on how damaging Bo’ Selecta! was during this period of recovery.

“I used to lean into an idea that [Bo’ Selecta!] was all funny. I’d laugh it off, or run from it.

When you’re younger, you think you can ride through this but it chips away until . . . you’re in a really dark place. I knew things weren’t right. I was humiliated but had to appear all shiny and positive. I wasn’t ready to confront what that show had done to me.

A lot of victims of bullying make excuses for the person bullying them but I don’t want to make excuses for him. He’s moved on. He has to put food on the table. He’s got family. But you know what? I’m not here to take anything away from him. I’m just showing that you, Leigh, need to be accountable for what you have done in a way that is more than just crying on social media.”

Craig David wasn’t the only one who was brutally parodied by Francis. There was also David Beckham, Mel B, Lorraine Kelly and Trisha Goddard. I guess Craig David did get it the worst, although to hear it affected him this much is a bit surprising. It does makes sense though. You can’t just go around in blackface making fun of Craig David and not expect to be called a racist, can you?

Will be interesting to see if Leigh Francis acknowledges these comments from Craig David, or continue his poor form of completely ignoring the guy despite claiming he’s sorry for mocking him all those years. Never forget: