Comic Relief will stop sending celebrities abroad in wake of ‘white saviour’ racism row, Richard Curtis tells MPs

Comic Relief will stop sending celebrities abroad in the wake of its ‘white saviour’ racism row, the charity’s founder Richard Curtis has told MPs.  The organisation came under fire earlier this year after Labour MP David Lammy said it was “perpetuating tired and unhelpful stereotypes” by using “white saviours” to raise awareness of the poverty facing some Africans.  After the comments were made, the show suffered an £8m fall in donations and lost some 600,000 viewers compared to 2017.  Now, the film director and humanitarian says that he imagines that the future of the fundraising efforts “will not be based on celebrities going abroad.”  Taking questions from the International Development Select Committee, Mr Curtis said that Comic Relief didn’t act “robustly” to the criticism because it was just focused on raising money.  He added that “if people who live in this country with African backgrounds feel as though they’re sort of in some way demeaned or negatively affected by Comic Relief, then we really have to listen to that.”The row was sparked in February after BBC presenter Stacey Dooley posted a picture on Instagram with a young Ugandan child, along with the caption “OB.SESSSSSSSSSSED” and a picture of a broken heart.