“FAIRLY SOON there could be a Jamaican rapist or paedophile coming to a street near you.” Awoken from sleep on December 3, 2020 I wondered whether I was still in the land of nod, or had I heard Nick Ferrari on his LBC morning show correctly?

On December 1, 2020, the Government commissioned a plane to transport criminals who were serving longer than a 12 month sentence in the UK, back to their place of birth.

On this occasion that flight was Jamaica bound. Twenty-three deportees successfully legally challenged their deportation. Two were rapists, but no paedophiles were taken off the flight.

I’m not here to talk about whether people should have been deported or not. As far as I am concerned, rapists, especially paedophiles, should be castrated. My objection is to what was said and the terminology that was used.

A trip down memory lane

For my 11th birthday in October 1973, my father bought me a small battery powered portable radio. Finding LBC as I twiddled the dial was like finding a new, trusted friend, a voice who without fail, was always there, comforting, titillating and informing. Up to the day of Ferrari’s offensive and partly false announcement, I had gone to bed with my radio tuned to the station every night.

Poor response

The day I heard those comments, I called LBC to complain. The nonchalant response I received made me bitter. I posted audio of the offensive remarks and my complaint on Facebook.

From the comments that followed, it became clear that I wasn’t alone in my outrage. I logged a complaint with Ofcom, and I started a petition that got more than 3,000 signatures in just three days.

Given that no paedophiles had been taken off the flight, the hosts’ words had also been inaccurate. The response I received let me know the station did not see things my way.

From that day on, I stopped listening to my beloved station because I will not support bigotry.

Not much has changed

In 1993, I became the first woman in the UK to host an eponymous television talk show. The Chrystal Rose show aired for 103 programmes.

Carlton TV took a huge leap of faith in hiring me to present that show, but I took a far greater leap. I was left with £18,000 debt from staging the pilots which Carlton refused to cover. They took the rights of my show and didn’t pay a penny. My total earnings from the programme’s first year did not cover the loan I’d taken out.

I walked in on other staff members speaking badly of me, though I was always professional and punctual. The broadcaster and production company collaborated and placed me with a talent agent who was complicit in paying me unfairly and treating me badly.

I asked to be a producer on the show I had created and was rejected. Every suggestion I made was rejected.

Mindful of my origins, as a single parent from a South Acton housing estate, I tried for so long to put up with this consistent mistreatment. I do not believe a white counterpart would have faced the same.

The poor treatment I faced in this industry, as a black woman is the reason representation is so low.

What are the impacts of our racist media industry?

Ferrari’s vile comments along with too many others, are perpetually platformed in a media industry that is not nearly diverse enough.

Anyone who platforms voices like his, is, in my opinion, guilty of promoting racism and violating the Race Relations Act.

The lack of representation in the media, along with the offensive rhetoric that so often goes unchallenged causes deep divides in our country.

We are not the ones who lynched, invaded territories, raped and pillaged natural resources from developing countries, but we are so often presented as the aggressors, the people to be feared, mistrusted or hated.

Still no progress

Ofcom decided not to pursue my complaint, despite Ferrari’s provocative and inaccurate statement. As far as they are concerned, there was no need for any investigation.

I reported Ferrari to the police too. They also seem to believe that Ferrari should be given the green light to spew more poisonous inaccuracies.

Every decent person should want race relations to improve. We have to ban racist rhetoric. We have to fire the people who spout the same hatred again and again. There must be zero tolerance, or we will move even further backwards.

An Ofcom spokesperson told The Voice: “We assessed complaints from listeners who objected to the presenter’s comments during this phone-in programme.

“While we understand some listeners were offended, in our view, the presenter made clear that he was speaking about the specific convicted criminals at the centre of this particular news story. A range of viewpoints on both sides of the debate were also provided during the discussion.”