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Politics

07th Feb 2020

Dawn Butler MP on her exasperation with racism

Oli Dugmore

In recent weeks, British media has misidentified prominent black figures on live broadcasts

When the basketball legend Kobe Bryant died alongside his daughter and seven other people in a helicopter crash at the end of January, the BBC reported on it with a clip of Bryant playing for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Except it wasn’t Bryant, it was the current Lakers star LeBron James, who like Bryant is African American.

This week, the BBC aired a report from Parliament in which they misidentified Labour MP Marsha de Cordova as another black MP, Dawn Butler.

Why do these mistakes continue to happen – not just on the BBC but across the British media – and why is it always black people who are misidentified.

Dawn Butler talks to JOE about being confused for her black colleagues by the British media, and her exasperation with racism.