Harry Enfield has defended his portrayal of cultural icon Nelson Mandela as a crack dealer.
The comedian, 64, wore black make-up and dressed as the late South African leader in 2007 as part of his Harry & Paul sketch show, which was condemned for racism.
During an appearance on The Third Act podcast, however, Enfield argued that the outrage over his sketch reflected imported sensitivities from America compared to typical British attitudes.
He said: ‘I did get in trouble a bit for doing Nelson Mandela. What’s that called, black voicing now?
‘Anyway, we used to be what was called blacked up, but cultural imperialism has taken the phrase ‘blackface’ from America, where there is a very different culture.’
The sketch, which aired on BBC One, saw Harry’s version of Mandela advertising heroin and crack cocaine.
He has since claimed that it was a joke intended to satirise the narrow range of roles available to black actors on British television at the time.
He added: ‘What made me do it was David Harewood, the actor, who’d done an interview saying he had to go and work in America, because over here, he could just play robbers, muggers, and bad people.
‘Those were the only parts he was ever up for in Britain, because of the colour of his skin. So he went to America, and then he could play other human beings.
‘I thought, well, Nelson Mandela is the only person in the world that is sort of universally loved. And I thought, that’s funny – the idea of Nelson Mandela, if he’s on the BBC, he has to be a mugger or a robber or a drug dealer.
‘So I had him say, “Do you like crack? Do you like smack? Then you will love my smack and crack party bag. You can steal your mother’s jewellery to pay for it”.’
The comedian went on to say that it was ‘absurd’ to him that anyone ‘would possibly take offence’.
‘But the only thing that really offended them wasn’t that it was that, but it was me doing it – and not someone with a different coloured skin. I get it now. I wouldn’t do it now, but it’s a shame.’
This comes after comedian Ava Vidal claimed Enfield used a racist slur on Radio 4 to debate the issue of a number of TV shows using blackface.
While defending playing Nelson Mandela, Enfield shocked listeners when he used the term ‘c**n’ while recalling older offensive comedy shows.
The Kevin The Teenager star said: ‘Obviously, Al Jolson or GH Elliott who played the Chocolate Coloured C**n, in the thirties, they perpetuated the myth of the happy negro, who was very happy to sing under the crack of the whip. Obviously that’s deeply offensive.’
Robinson pointed out that many listeners would find the slur offensive, saying that Enfield was using it in inverted commas, with the comedian continuing: ‘Well, that was his name on stage.’
Speaking to Metro, Vidal said: ‘It proves how deeply ingrained these attitudes are that he could utter that word without so much as a by your leave.
‘This is why Black and POC have to lead the conversation on racism because many White people don’t even notice it.’
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