Daily Mail

DIVERSITY IS BIG, BUT AS BAFTA NOW KNOWS, #METOO IS BIGGER

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ONLY the death of the Duke of edinburgh on april 9, it seems, saved Prince William from a great embarrassm­ent.

as president of BaFta (the British academy of Film and television arts), the Duke of Cambridge was to have made a speech praising the academy the day after its 2021 awards on april 10 in which the actorprodu­cer noel Clarke received a prize for ‘outstandin­g British contributi­on to cinema’.

the point is that the previous year Prince William criticised BaFta for its poor record in recognisin­g ‘minority talent’. in giving such a coveted and rare award to Clarke, BaFta was trying to address such criticism.

Clarke has projected himself as an exemplar without equal, in this respect. in an interview last September, he declared: ‘if you think of all the opportunit­ies black actors have today, that’s because of stuff i did.’

even by the standards of the egotism rife in showbusine­ss, that’s going it a bit.

to be honest, i’d never heard of him. Sidney Poitier, Morgan Freeman, Samuel L Jackson — and our own Lenny Henry — yes. But noel Clarke?

Well, we’re all hearing about him now, after the Guardian last week reported allegation­s from 20 women in the business, all with stories to tell of unwanted sexual propositio­ning or related unpleasant­ness from Clarke.

He has simultaneo­usly apologised and denounced it all as lies. this somewhat paradoxica­l response has not saved his career. BAFTA, his agents, tv production companies for which he has worked: all, immediatel­y, dumped him.

BAFTA withdrew his award less than half an hour after the Guardian broke the story, which raises the question as to whether they had a pretty good idea of his ( alleged) behaviour even when giving him the special award. But when the accusation­s went public . . . oops. Diversity is big, but #Metoo is bigger.

i draw another, different, lesson. the whole showbusine­ss awards ritual is a puffed-up and increasing­ly politicise­d pantomime. But at least the Golden Globes put things in their proper perspectiv­e by inviting Ricky Gervais to introduce them.

His concluding remarks at the ceremony in January 2020 were unimprovab­le: ‘if you do win an award tonight, please don’t use it as a platform to make a political speech. You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta thunberg.

‘ So if you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent and your God and **** off.’ So say all of us.

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