His take on Craig David was probably his most famous Bo' Selecta character - but now Leigh Francis, aka Keith Lemon, sounds a bit fed up with the r'n'b singer taking offence to it.
David has spoken out in recent years about his portrayal on the comedy sketch show, saying how it negatively impacted his mental health to the degree that he was forced to take time away from the music business.
As you may recall, Lemon issued an tearful apology for portraying David and other black characters in blackface on the show in 2020, when the Black Lives Matters global movement kicked off. "I didn’t realise how offensive it was back then," he said at the time. "I just want to apologise, I just want to say sorry for any upset I caused whether I was Michael Jackson, Craig David, Trisha Goddard, all people I’m a big fan of. I guess we’re all on a learning journey."
However, last month Craig David accused Lemon of being 'insincere' with his apology. "People would shout at me on the street and I felt the same feeling I had when I was bullied at school," he said in an interview with The Times. "Leigh Francis had normalised bullying by making it comedy. When he put blackface on, that was being racist. We can all apologise when on the back foot. The moment of expressing his apology seemed very coincidentally timed."
He added: "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."
Now, Lemon has returned fire in the ongoing debate by basically saying that David needs to just get over it.
He told The Sun: "Most people are happy with their portrayal on Bo’ Selecta!. Apart from someone we know who wasn’t. The only way it’s ever going to go away from him, if he feels people are going on about it, is to stop talking about it."
He added: "It’s ages ago, isn’t it? It is, 20 years ago. I wish he wasn’t upset."
