British comedians Matt Lucas and David Walliams have apologized for their use of blackface on the 2003 sketch comedy series “Little Britain”.
The pair has posted identical public apologies on Twitter on Saturday evening, saying the “have both spoken publicly in recent years of our regret that we played characters of other races. Once again, we want to make it clear that it was wrong and we are very sorry.”
The apologies come days after Netflix, BBC iPlayer and Britbox removed the series from their platforms. Netflix also dropped the pair’s airport mockumentary “Come Fly With Me”. The show was one of the earliest of numerous problematic series to have been pulled from various streaming services in the past week.
The pair aren’t the only public figures in the industry apologising today. Spike Lee has issued an apology for his comments earlier this week on radio defending Woody Allen against cancel culture in Hollywood.
At the time Lee told New York City radio station WOR’s talk show “In the Morning” that: “Allen is a great, great filmmaker and this cancel thing is not just Woody. And I think when we look back on it we are going to see that – short of killing somebody – I don’t know you that you can just erase somebody like they never existed.”
Lee now says on Twitter: “I deeply apologize. My words were wrong. I do not and will not tolerate sexual harassment, assault or violence. Such treatment causes real damage that can’t be minimized.”
