Grime rapper Stormzy, who has been invited to provide a televised Christmas Day message by the BBC, has denounced Britain as “100 per cent” racist, and claimed that Boris Johnson is making it worse.
Stormzy, real name Michael Ebenazer Kwadjo Omari Owuo, told Italian newspaper La Repubblica that Britain is “definitely, 100 per cent” racist.
“It’s like: ‘Oh no, we’re not racist’. But there’s a lot of racism in the country,” the rapper said.
“The difficult thing with the UK is, as you said, in Italy it’s a clear problem,” he alleged.
“Whereas trying to explain that Britain is a racist country [to a British person] is the most difficult thing ever. They think: ‘No, it’s not. Stormzy you’re successful. Look at London, there’s loads of black people…’ It’s a more difficult case to fight,” he complained.
The Labour supporter further alleged that Tory leader Boris Johnson “encourages hate among others”, has become a “figurehead” for racists, and emboldened them with his crushing electoral victory over Labour’s far-left leader Jeremy Corbyn.
“Before, people had to hide their racism. If you felt something bad about about black people, about Muslims, you had to shut up,” he said.
“Now these people have the confidence to come out in public to say everything. This is scary to me, that scares the shit out of me,” he claimed.
He also suggested that Britain has a “very dark history” and “colonised everywhere” — but would not rule out accepting MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) or OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) state honours, supposedly because they would please his mother.
“It’s something I’d look into and decide in case of,” he said.
The rapper has not taken kindly to news outlets reporting on his comments to the Italian press, issuing a statement on social media accusing them of “intentionally spinning” his words and inviting them to “suck my dick”.