Harry Enfield says blacking up as Mandela was ‘so wrong it was right’

Harry Enfield has defended the use of blackface on television in an interview broadcast on Radio 4’s Today programme. In conversation with host Nick Robinson and fellow guest Ava Vidal, the comedian aimed to justify his decision to portray Nelson Mandela, describing it as “so wrong that it was right”.

Enfield, known for playing characters including Loadsamoney and Kevin the Teenager on television, said he had also used makeup to play an Indian soldier in a BBC programme, a decision he also deemed appropriate.

While he said that he would not use blackface now, Enfield argued that there was a distinction between his previous material and earlier incarnations, such as the “Chocolate Coloured Coon” of the 1930s, a term Robinson apologised for. Enfield also referred to the “myth of the happy negro”.

Vidal, also a comedian, said that blackface “normalises dehumanisation”, and challenged Enfield on his decision to portray Mandela as a drug dealer, rather than subverting stereotypes of black people.

The discussion comes after renewed conversations on race in the UK in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and consequent Black Lives Matter protests, and a week where shows containing blackface – among them Little Britain and The Mighty Boosh – have been removed from streaming services in the UK. Ant and Dec also issued an apology on Wednesday for portraying black characters on their ITV show Saturday Night Takeaway, adding that they had “purposely stopped doing this several years ago and certainly would not make these sketches today”.

Last week, Leigh Francis – best known as Keith Lemon – also issued an apology over his portrayal of black people on his show Bo’ Selecta, including Michael Jackson, Trisha Goddard and Craig David.