Britain's Got Talent: Ashley Banjo defends dance routine

Almost all of the 15,500 Britain's Got Talent complaints are about Diversity's routine

Ashley Banjo has defended a dance routine he and his troupe Diversity performed on Britain's Got Talent after the show received thousands of complaints.

The routine saw the dancer being knelt on, and handcuffed, by a dancer dressed as a police officer, which was a reference to the death of George Floyd, who was killed in May this year.

Critics complained that ITV's Saturday night entertainment show was an inappropriate platform for a political statement. The number of complaints stood at 21,673 on Monday, Ofcom said.

Ashley said: "We stand by every single decision we made with that performance," and said the reaction to the routine proves how important the topic of racism is.

He posted a video on Instagram thanking people who have supported him and said: "Trust me I'm right in the centre of it and the negativity is the minority, the positive response has been huge."

Ashley Banjo (lentre left) is also sitting in for Simon Cowell as a judge

Ashley Banjo has taken Simon Cowell's place on the judging panel for this series after Cowell recently injured his back.

A BGT spokesperson said: "Diversity's performance offered their take on the extraordinary events of 2020 opening up important topics of conversation," adding that it was appropriate for a "family audience".

Ashley Banjo's brother Jordan has said Diversity, who won the talent show in 2009, wanted to use the Black Lives Matter -inspired routine to "express how the events of this year have made us feel".

Ofcom is now deciding whether to launch an investigation into the performance following the complaints.