Celeb hairdresser 'sorry' for Bafta racial slurs

Celeb hairdresser 'sorry' for Bafta racial slurs
Celeb hairdresser 'sorry' for Bafta racial slurs (Image credit: Doug Peters/EMPICS Entertainment)

Hairdresser James Brown has apologised for racially abusing a TV presenter at the Baftas. The judge on E4 reality show Great British Hairdresser repeatedly called Ben Douglas a 'n****r' and referred to his female companion as a 'n****r's bitch'. Theatre academy founder Douglas had refrained from naming the crimper, who is close friends with Kate Moss, but Brown came clean and issued a full apology. In a statement reported by the BBC, he said: "I'd like to make a public apology to Mr Douglas, to his friends and to Bafta for my offensive and stupid comments. The simple truth is that I had drunk far too much on the evening and my behaviour was totally unacceptable. "Everyone who knows me knows I am not racist in any way whatsoever, but this incident has shown me that my drinking is way out of control and I need to take urgent measures to deal with it." Douglas confirmed that the pair had a 'full and frank conversation' about what happened. The statement continued: "I have been in touch with Mr Douglas and will be writing to him and to the Bafta organisers to apologise personally. I am very sorry and very embarrassed." Earlier, Douglas explained that he had gone public in order to expose increasing use of the abusive word. He said: "My motivation isn't that I want to ruin someone's career or to do a 'kiss and tell', but I feel it is an opportunity to raise awareness and to put a focus on the use of that word. I have seen the use of that word creeping into slang. Why did this individual feel that they were able to use that word to insult me and the person I was with?" A spokeswoman for Bafta said: "We were unaware of the incident until we read the newspaper story yesterday. Neither party has contacted Bafta directly about the matter but we will be investigating it further."

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.