Harry Enfield prompts uproar after defending blackface and using racial slur live on BBC radio

Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Harry Enfield has sparked outrage after using the word “c**n” in an interview defending blackface. “Let me tell you, Nick, obviously Al Jolson or GH Elliot, who played the Chocolate Coloured C**n in the 1930s – they perpetuated the myth of the happy negro who was just very happy to sing under the crack of the whip, the American whip or the British imperial bayonet and obviously that’s deeply offensive and always will be.” Robinson then interrupted, reminding Enfield that the terms he used were potentially offensive and should not be repeated. “Radio 4 getting Harry Enfield on Today to defend blackface in comedy is another horrid example of the media somehow thinking this is a ‘debate’ with ‘two sides’,” journalist James Temperton wrote, adding: ”It isn’t. We don’t need a debate.” Mollie Goodfellow added: “That Harry Enfield was even asked on to ‘defend’ black face on BBC R4 at the same time the *same* BBC is removing shows that feature it shows something is broken.” "Listening to Harry Enfield saying ‘c**n’ on @BBCr4today is not really how I wanted to start the day," arts editor Anita Singh wrote.