[Previous entry: "Police Say Girl Lied About Racism Charges"] [Next entry: "World Bank plans to increase loans to poor countries"]

10/27/2008: "TV show public vote results are "racist" - some viewers claim"

Rising Damp star Don Warrington and M People singer Heather Small came bottom of a public vote last week despite performances that were rated better than the three white celebrities by the programme's judges.

Mr Warrington was booted off the programme following the public vote, prompting comments on a BBC internet chat forum complaining that viewers were being racist.

One post said: "I'm really concerned the voting for Strictly is racist. There's no way Don and Heather both deserved to be in the bottom two."

The racism claims may be hard to prove, since last year's winner Alesha Dixon was mixed race while black athlete Colin Jackson was runner-up in 2005.

[ That last paragraph suggests this is all paranoia. Once you start thinking that the reason you are losing something or unfairly treated is always because of "racism" you imagine it everywhere. As a white it has occurred to me that some things people do, like my neighbour shooting at targets in his back garden and the bullets riquocheting into my garden or if someone is just a bit rude or whatever, if I was black I could be expected to believe a racial motivation for what happened. And most whites feel they have to go out of their way to not spark such a suspicion in the mind of a non-white that it becomes ridiculous. ]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3263441/Strictly-Come-Dancing-public-vote-is-racist-claim-viewers-on-BBC-message-board.html