Bring me the head of Anton Du Beke

October 6, 2009

Dear Anton Du Beke,

Your real name is Tony Beek. I learnt this today by looking you up in Wikipedia. Up until today I had never heard of you. According to the Guardian, you are the son of a Spanish mother and a Hungarian father, which makes you some kind of mongrel dago, goulash-eating breed I’ve never heard of.

So, you called your dancing partner a paki while filming for television. Brilliant! I’m really pleased that you, of all people, have had the guts to come out and say what many people think behind closed doors. You alone have been able to perceptively know how to toss out a casual pejorative at a white woman who’s looking a bit dark on one of the most widely watched programmes in the country. What does that mean? It means that you’ve single-handedly justified using the term publicly to many borderline racist and ignorant adults and children around the country.

I’ve had a brief read of the bile that’s being spewed on messageboards today by the usual suspects: ‘Paki is just a shortening of Pakistani…I wouldn’t complain if you called ME a BRIT!” Of course not. But then, the voice of reason is never going to permeate your incredibly dense skull.

Many people reading this will never have been called a ‘Paki’ to their face, you may have even used the term – you may not. I know a lot of people I call friends have. However, I hope that I’ve managed to change their perceptions by explaining that PAKI is not an acceptable term by any stretch of limited imagination.

Growing up in the north of England in the ‘80s, ‘Paki’ was the first term of abuse I came to know. It was never said in a friendly manner. How could it be? Unless you’re some kind of idiot, you know that that fucking word is an insult. Especially because I’m from Bangladesh. But then, that wouldn’t matter because we all look the same, eh? Hearing a group of people shouting the term at your Mum on a bus isn’t fun; having it chanted at you in a playground isn’t fun; being called it on the street by children isn’t fun; having the fuck kicked out of you for being brown isn’t fun. Do you get it yet?

I know: Watch ‘East is East’ and you’ll hear them all saying it / My mate says it, and he’s one / It’s just a shortening.

Seriously, fuck off and grow up. I don’t care about your individual interpretations of it, because you will never understand how it feels. No, I don’t care if you went to India and you were the only white person there. You’re still the fucking Raj to them anyway: get a fucking grip.

Back to Beek.

“I must say immediately and categorically that I am not a racist and that I do not use racist language. There was no racist intent whatsoever but I accept that it is a term which causes offence and I regret my use of it, which was done without thought or consideration of how others would react. I apologise unreservedly for any offence my actions might have caused.”

Oh, good. So that clears that up then. It’s a simple fact – you are a cunt. One of many. Many that includes those at the BBC for allowing you to have a career in their pathetic, small-minded shithole excuse for an organisation. I am sick of the sheer bloody-minded ignorance that passes under the radar of taste, manners and respect because of a well-scripted apology by some faceless corporate communications team.

I hate you all.

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