The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
TV star Nadiya Hussain: Why I’m scared of calling out racism
Nadiya Hussain says she has experienced more racism in the last five years than in her entire life and is “scared” to call it out.
The Great British Bake Off winner worries that her TV work will dry up if she is seen to be “complaining” about anything.
Hussain, 35, who is back on screen with BBC show Nadiya Bakes, told Radio Times magazine she had encountered “racism throughout my life...
“I now work in an industry that’s very much middle-aged, Caucasian, male, and there I am – a 5ft 1 Muslim brown girl, and it’s not my world.
“We have to question why there aren’t more people of colour working in TV, publishing, the hospitality industry.
“When I did this show I looked around and I thought, ‘Wow, there’s literally just me and the home economist, who’s Korean’.”
Speaking out is hard “because if I ever feel like I’m complaining about anything, I have this god-awful fear that nobody will want to work with me ever again. So I’m really scared,” she said.
“The times that I have called it out, I’ve met with some serious negativity.”
She called for more diversity in TV and publishing but said the situation had improved, adding that “now people say to me, ‘My daughter wants to do exactly what you’re doing’, and that is a lovely thing to hear”.
Hussain recounted the time she posted a Cornish pasty recipe on social media, replacing traditional swede with apple. “I got so much abuse... What I constantly read was, ‘What gives you the right to make a Cornish pasty?’ And that really affected me,” she said.
“I’ve definitely experienced more racism in the last five years than I have in my whole life.”