The Vicar of Dibley will take the knee when delivering a sermon regarding Black Lives Matter and the death of George Floyd.
The Vicar of Dibley will return for a series of Christmas specials on the BBC and will see Reverend Geraldine Kennedy, played by Dawn French, deliver a sermon regarding the Black Lives Matter movement and the killing of George Floyd by American police officers.
Ms French expressed her views in the wake of Mr Floyd’s death in May this year, when she tweeted: “Black Lives Matter. This is a fact, not a slogan.”
During the sermon, Reverend Geraldine Kennedy will acknowledge that Dibley, a fictional village in Oxfordshire, is not the most ethnically diverse community, before adding: “I don’t think it matters where you’re from. I think it matters that you do something about it because Jesus would, wouldn’t he?”
She will add: “Until all lives matter the same, we are doing something very wrong. We need to focus on justice for a huge chunk of our countrymen and women who seem to have a very bad, weird deal from the day they’re born.”
She will then pin a home-made Black Lives Matter poster to the noticeboard, before taking the knee.
Steve Bennett, the editor of the comedy website Chortle, stated the move could “undermine the BBC’s claim to be impartial on the issue of Black Lives Matter”.
In June, the corporation told its journalists that while it was “not neutral on racism”, they could not publicly back the Black Lives Matter campaign, because it could be perceived as bias.
The BBC has responded to the claims by saying: “Geraldine is a well-established fictional character of a much-loved comedy, who gives her take on the key moments of the year.”
It added: “Audiences understand the difference between news and comedy content and the sermons do not breach the BBC’s impartiality guidelines.”
Author Kathy Lette defended the BBC, saying: “Good comic writing always has a serious side. True wit requires grit.”
Labour MP David Lammy tweeted his support to Dawn French, calling her a “national treasure”.
@Dawn_French is a national treasure who has filled our lives with joy and humour for decades encouraging us to laugh at so many aspects of ourselves. If she doesn’t play the Queen Mother in the next series of The Crown we will have been robbed! https://t.co/DKunEJBmEa
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) December 6, 2020
Former UKIP leader Gerard Batten criticised the show and called for the BBC to be defunded. He pointed out that Ms French is wearing an “upside-down crucifix”, which he called “a symbol of Satanism”.
https://twitter.com/GerardBattenUK/status/1335561161991970817
