Trisha Goddard reveals trolls have accused her of hitting out at Bo’ Selecta! ‘to revive her career’

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Trisha Goddard has revealed how the backlash she faced after Leigh Francis apologised for his impression of her on Bo Selecta! led her wishing ‘she wasn’t black’.

The TV personality shared how she had been accused by trolls of only reacting to the blackface depiction to ‘revive her career’.

The 62-year-old has now explained how the furore has left her ‘sad and exhausted’. 

She shared how she told her daughter Billie, 30: ‘I said ‘I’ve decided I’m not going to be black any more!’ She felt so sad for me, and I said, ‘I’m too exhausted. I can’t use talcum powder, it doesn’t fly any more. And when it rains, people will see I’m not white. I’m sick of being black!”

Talking to the Sun, she added: ‘We were laughing through the tears but it is hard. It is weird to find it so hard just being the way you are.’

She explained that comedian Leigh apologising was ‘when s**t started’.

‘People say things like, ‘You’re doing this to resurrect your career’, and I want to say, ‘F*** off!’

‘Every time one of us speaks out, we think maybe the networks won’t touch us again because they see us as troublemakers. So many black singers and celebrities have had the same experience. Your fear is that if you rock the boat, you won’t get work again.’ 

Leigh, 47, issued a grovelling apology over his depiction of the likes of Trisha, Mel B and Craig David amid the recent spread of the Black Lives Matter movement.

His comments shone the spotlight on Trisha, who first revealed on Good Morning Britain last month how she had been inundated with abuse following the apology.

Since the furore began, Trisha has commented on the BLM movement on several occasions. 

Although she supports the ­message, she is sceptical about some elements of the movement, fearing that the political controversy may detracts from the ‘actual issues’.

Instead, she has called on the UK to tackle racism with education.

She said: ‘We owe them [young people] the truth about how Britain was built — the blood, sweat, pain, the tears.

‘They deserve honesty and truth, rather than this stupid whitewashed version that is causing a whole ­section of Britain a lot of pain and emboldening another section of Britain into absolute nastiness driven by some kind of fear Britain is going to be overrun.

‘This isn’t about political correctness. It’s about the facts.’

Last month, she slammed daytime TV bosses for only employing black stars in ‘jokey’ roles. 

She also revealed her shock over seeing Ant and Dec in blackface, criticising both the presenters and ITV producers for letting them do so. 

Trisha also called for a change in education so that children can be taught about the Windrush generation who were invited to move to the UK from from Caribbean countries between 1948 and 1971.

‘They were actually asked to come to Britain after the Second World War and really it was the crème de la crème of the commonwealth,’ Trisha explained. ‘I think I have my mum’s log when she came over and she was 26, you had such skilled people working in transport and nurses like my mum.’

Also last month, while joining a panel which discussed whether people are losing sight of the Black Lives Matter movement, Trisha explained to hosts Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid how the noughties show affected her.

She said: ‘I don’t mind people joking about me, but it was the big lips the big nose of the character, and a lot of people said ‘why didn’t you say anything then’, assuming I didn’t.

‘But to those people I would say, would it be ok if someone like Vanessa Feltz, who’s unashamedly and proudly Jewish. If she was famous at the time as well, and still is, if they characterised Vanessa with a big hook nose going around saying ‘oy vey’ and counting money. 

‘Or someone like Gok Wan with Asian eyes working in a Chinese takeaway… they’re all abhorrent. And I didn’t realise until very recently how badly bullied my children were. 

She then went on to discuss the impact of Leigh’s apology this month, admitting that she’s been faced with a barrage of abuse since.

‘Leigh chose to make an apology. And let me just say, since Leigh made that apology I have been subjected to even more abuse.’  

The former Dancing On Ice star went on to say that though she felt ‘hurt, distaste and disgust’ at Leigh’s action, there were other people that should take responsibility too.

She said: ‘It’s not just down to Leigh, someone commissioned it, the whole thing, I don’t want it to be about Leigh, it’s about systemic racism.’

She went on to praise the Celebrity Juice star for speaking to her daughter amid his portrayal of her mother, adding: ‘Leigh sweetly talked to my daughter Billie for a very long time about his experience, he was horrified what she went through, he said as a father he feels so bad about this.’

Earlier this week Trisha revealed she felt ‘sick’ every time she saw Leigh Francis after the blackface depiction of her on his noughties Channel 4 show Bo’ Selecta!. 

The former chat show host spoke to BBC Newsnight on Thursday about how Leigh’s caricature with ‘the big lips’ were ‘all the things every black child has been bullied about’. 

Trisha revealed she had avoided Leigh for many years at award ceremonies because his blackface impersonation of her was not only painful, but made her two daughters become a target for bullies. 

The Channel 4 series, which aired between 2002 and 2006, featured Francis, 47, portraying a series of celebrities; including Michael Jackson, Craig David and Trisha by wearing face masks to impersonate them. 

Trisha said: ‘I hated it. I have only recently discovered how bullied my children were in Norfolk over the character.   

‘Let me be clear on this, if the parody was just of me, that would have been one thing, but it was the big lips… all the things that every black child has been bullied about.

‘I can laugh at myself, I’ve had people joke about me. But it was the racial over-the-top with the big lips, the big wide hips, the rice and peas.’   

Trisha said the comedian was ‘absolutely horrified’ to learn how her daughters, Madison, 27, and Billie, 30, endured ‘vicious bullying’ from classmates due to the caricature portrayed on the show.   

Trisha added she couldn’t watch the show because she found it too upsetting.  

‘Leigh kind of knew because I know Craig David had an issue with his portrayal, he really did But that’s for Craig to speak to,’ Trisha said.

‘But a couple of times I did bump into Leigh. My daughter reminded me, she was with me once I couldn’t even talk to him I felt so sick.’

Leigh- best known for his alter-ego Keith Lemon- took to Instagram earlier this month amid the Black Lives Matter movement to say he was ‘deeply sorry’ for the way he impersonated stars such as Michael Jackson and Craig David on the show.  

In the video, the Celebrity Juice host said: ‘My name’s Leigh Francis. I play a character called Keith Lemon on television. It’s been a weird few days, I’ve sat and thought about things and what I could post to help things.

‘Back in 2002, I did a show called Bo’ Selecta, I portrayed many black people. Back then I didn’t think anything about it, people didn’t say anything- I’m not going to blame other people.

‘I’ve been talking to some people. I didn’t realise how offensive it was back then.

‘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.’