Trisha Goddard says Leigh Francis ‘emboldened casual racism’ with blackface impressions on Bo’ Selecta

Francis regularly portrayed Goddard on the Channel 4 series while wearing a large prosthetic nose and lips

Trisha Goddard has said that Leigh Francis’ use of blackface on Bo’ Selecta “emboldened casual racism”, while revealing that she has accepted his recent apology for the comedy sketches.

Francis regularly portrayed black celebrities including Goddard, Craig David and Mel B on the Channel 4 show, using prosthetics and blackface to exaggerate their appearances.

Last week (5 June), Francis apologised in an Instagram video for the “offensive” impressions, saying that he had been on an “learning journey”.

Speaking to The Sun, Goddard said she was left feeling “hurt, distaste and disgust” over Francis’ impression of her, which saw him don a large prosthetic nose and lips.

She also said that her young daughters were bullied as a result of the impression when it was originally broadcast.

“It emboldened a lot of casual racism towards myself and others [he] parodied with big lips and noses,” Goddard said.

It was Goddard who pushed Francis into making his apology, sending him a message insisting it would be a “powerful gesture to recognise what part you played in perpetuating blackface”.

Both Goddard and her daughter Billie accepted Francis’ apology, with Billie commenting on Francis’ original Instagram video that it was “100 percent the right thing to do”.